About/History

THE FULL STORY/CV:

ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL:

Kelly’s work has been a constant exploration & evolution.  She found her flow in architecture school at the University of Oregon, a top-rated architecture school, which prided itself on it’s emphasis of design & theory.  She nearly minored in dance here as well, as she found herself feasting in her explorations of space & movement in both fields!

PAINTING SIGNS FOR THE APPLE STAND:
She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area after graduation to work at a firm for 7 months, realizing quickly (after Day 1) that this space wouldn’t suit, & wasn’t giving her even near the soul food & satisfaction that her school experience gave her.  She traded the office chair in for a position at the apple stand in front of the architecture firm, hawking apples, peaches, & blueberries for (hand-over-heart) RAINBOW ORCHARDS at the farmer’s market.  She made a bunch of quirky & whimsical signs for the stand (“$1.00/pound”, “Pink Lady Apples”, etc.), & literally laughed as she made them; using a set of children’s watercolor paints & pastels, as there were no rules or bounds here, the more vibrant & genuinely full-of-life, the better.  The signs quickly drew attention from the crowds, including an art rep who sold “blue chip”/museum-level paintings, whom she hoped to produce a body of work for.  In the meantime, she started having art shows, showing & selling at a plethora of places around the SF Bay.  She was represented by the Lyssa Morgan Gallery in Tampa, Florida, & had commissioned works by both SF local individuals & businesses.  She was accepted to a Grant Fellowship/Artist-in-Residency at the Vermont Studio Center.

MESSY MONKEY ARTS:

“What a great idea! A unique, fun, & cool experience for all ages & seriousness levels…You have a wonderful service that no one can rival.” –Alex A., Google

“My day with Messy Monkey Arts was by far one of the most fun days I have ever had. To be creative, spontaneous, & silly with my colleagues in a beautiful setting provided a well-needed break from the day-to-day grind. I can’t recommend a day with Messy Monkey more!” – Jeanne S., Global Business Network

This painting exploration led to her thinking she should teach kids, but only in “her” way, aka:  completely conceptual & outside-the-lines.  She started advertising at the apple stand, & tho the customers thought “Timmy & Susie” might be interested, they as adults wanted to join in as well.  Kelly Loved this concept even more, which led her to pitch the idea to corporations for team-building events.

Her first experiment was with a group of friends where she created a “Wonder Bread” canvas for them to do peanut butter-&-jelly art on, as well as using a bucket of noodles as brushes to paint on the wall.  And, let’s not forget, there was also the marshmallow creme station, ETC.  Needless to say, this whole thing ended up in a massive food fight.  And, as unforgettable & epic as this evening was, she quickly realized she was dabbling with a form of potentially loaded “art therapy” here; exposing people to a side of themselves that might surprise them, & therefore knew she needed to set up some clear structure, while keeping the exploration wide & free.  In tandem, she also knew she was taking people outside their comfort zones.

So – her team-buidling events began with people playing unoffensive, anybody-can-do-it games she created like “Pictionary Olympics”, & eventually had people wearing white paper, tyvek suits, throwing buckets of paint on each other.  She “padded” the event by wining & dining them with amazing food & beachy, &/or rooftop locations, all escorted on the lovely & designy TEACHERBUS, which came equipped with a well-used dance floor for memorable trips back to the office at the end of the day.  Note that there may have also been unexpected stops en route back at a gallery where they would find their collaborative paintings on display, titled & priced, amidst a spread of wine & cheese!  And, the cherry on top were the paintings back in their boardroom early the following week, & photos from the event in a calendar on each desk to remind them to take a simple risk or two throughout the year, & to keep playing.

MOBILE RECESS:

“”WOW!!!  WOW!!!! WOW!!!!  What an amazing adventure!  Our group got picked up by this super cool, veggie fueled, solar powered bus with bright orange and white interior.  Complete with a dance floor and music bumping, our group danced our way across the streets of San Francisco in style!

All we knew is that were going to go play fun games in a really cool atmosphere, and that is exactly what we did.  In between the dancing on the bus, we played some partner games on the bus that had us laughing and hugging and standing on our heads…..yes, head stands! (purely optional)

So we arrived at this secluded beach on treasure island (one of many places mobile recess goes)…After we finished [a slew of hilarious games, I hadn’t played in 20 years!] some of us jumped in the COLD, but refreshing Bay for a swim before boarding the bus again and heading back to the City.  The whole thing took about 2 hours and we were back to our life as usual…just majorly refreshed! – Claudia M., 

The above gives you a good idea what went on at her side project to Messy Monkey, aka:  “Mobile Recess”.  To carry on with her lovely collaboration with Peter at TEACHERBUS, the 2 brought in their partners (Inke & Saul respectively), & formed MOBILE RECESS.

The concept was a quick version of play, the premise not so dissimilar to that of Messy Monkey, where they’d use the bus to take you out of the office for 2 hours total to play some classic 1980’s “recess” games in an unexpected location with views & fresh air to reboot & Refresh you for nowhere near the cost or involvement of a full day event.