artist bio

Hello again! Here’s a wee bit more about my background and the inspiration behind my work.

⟡ background ⟡

Kayleigh Kellas is a Moray-based artist, born in Aberdeen. Since graduating from Moray School of Art with a BA (Hons) Fine Art in 2022, she has gone on to exhibit across the Scottish Highlands and Islands, Moray and Aberdeen, most recently exhibiting in The Royal Scottish Academy’s New Contemporaries exhibition 2024.

Raised in a small village and a family-owned business lineage, Kayleigh is the first in her family to pursue university and the first to embark on an arts career.

⟡ art ⟡

Taking inspiration from Abstract Expressionism, Kayleigh’s process is mostly concerned with the joyful and unpredictable creative process that goes into making the work. Primarily using oil paint, she creates layered and gestural paintings, often deconstructing them to create smaller series.

Working primarily in collections unified by a set colour palette or selection of gesture-making tools, Kayleigh employs colour and gesture as a form of painterly language. While a combination of rural, domestic and inner landscapes inform the beginnings of each painting, the creative process removes any trace of the original image and leaves the work to be interpreted by each viewer in their own unique way.