Verne Collection Inc

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Daniel Kelly was born in Great Falls, Montana and grew up in Idaho Falls. Before leaving for Japan over twenty five years ago, he spent $1.95 on the only art book he could afford. At the back of this small book by the woodblock print artist Tokuriki was an invitation, "if the reader of this book has a chance to visit Kyoto, feel free to contact the author." Daniel Kelly first telephoned my Cleveland gallery on a cold, snowy day in January 1986, as a winter storm howled outside the window. Daniel Kelly asked if I knew who he was, and I told him I was familiar with his work from several art catalogs. He agreed to rearrange his return trip to Japan to include a four-hour stopover in Cleveland. The snow was falling heavily and the visibility was low by the time I reached the airport. Rather than battle the elements, Daniel Kelly and I found an empty gate and began lining up his prints along the large windows. We didn't realize that another flight had been scheduled for that particular gate until we turned around to find a crowd of nearly one hundred people watching us. I was impressed by the images I saw that day, and I felt very comfortable with Daniel Kelly. His early prints reflected the landscape images of traditional Japan, using a wonderful blend of Eastern and Western techniques. I told him I was very interested in showing his work in the gallery. He, in turn, unconcerned about how his own sales might be affected, has generously introduced me to other American artists studying and living in Japan. Over the ten years we've known each other, I have watched Daniel's images go through numerous transformations. I've come to realize that Daniel Kelly is a risk taker, both in his art and his life, and that he has seized many opportunities along the way to his success. His interest in art began at an early age. "From the first grade, I loved it," he says. " It's the love of art that makes a child a good artist or not. If you love it, it's easy." There were no museums in Great Falls. His first exposure to art consisted of walking by the studio of C. M. Russell, the famous cowboy artist, and seeing the brushes and art materials in the display case. Some of Russell's early art in the local children's library was a bit "clunky" in Daniel's estimation, and he thought to himself, "I can do this. Art isn't this big holy thing." At the lunch counter in the local community center, Daniel Kelly remembers staring at a traveling show of several large expressionist paintings that he thinks were probably the works of Franz Kline. This served as his introduction to contemporary art. Despite Daniel Kelly interests, none of the Catholic colleges he attended offered a degree in art, and he majored in psychology instead. It wasn't until graduate school at Oregon's Portland State University that he became involved in ceramics and glass blowing. After moving to San Francisco and setting up a flat-glass factory, an advertisement in City Lights Bookstore led him to art classes at Morton Levin's Graphic Arts Workshop. Although many art schools were more conceptually oriented at the time, Daniel Kelly says, "Mort was very severe when I got there.

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