Vermont and California
Bill Kelly
Altered Book:
Never Cry Wolf, Farley Mowat (1963)
Watercolor, earth pigment, drypoint etching, and collage.
Artist Statement
The word never has always fascinated me.
The word always has never been of interest.
Who or what teaches us about error (or for that matter, lassitude)?
When I first read Farley Mowat, I knew his heart and stories were profound. I will never go into the woods alone after dark like he did. I will always cry (out) in dismay at our human need to destroy and deny the power of words. A lone wolf like Farley preferred eating raw mice with the wolves over hunting for sport. His stories remind us of why we must come to terms with human cruelty. If you don’t believe me, read A Whale for the Killing, then try to teach us all why we behave like barbarians when we feel threatened by the truth.
Short Bio
Both an artist and a writer, Bill Kelly is the founder of Brighton Press, former director of the San Diego Print Club, and current director of Art Around Books, a gallery in Vermont devoted to books and images. His current exhibition is “Witness in the Grass,” a thirty-year retrospective of his prints at the University of San Diego, where he has taught printmaking and drawing for the past twenty-five years.