Sculptor Mo Kelman has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and has shown her artwork in more than 100 exhibitions across the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and Korea. Kelman, who lives in Providence, is a professor emeritus of art at the Community College of Rhode Island and has taught classes and workshops at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland, Snow Farm, Maiwa (Vancouver), Zijdelings (Netherlands), Fibres West (Australia), Massachusetts College of Art and RISD. Kelman received her MFA from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
Cloud And Its Shadow, 2024
wood, waxed linen cord, springs, bamboo, paint 64″ x 83″ x 10″
Artist Statement
My current work in sculpture is driven by contrasts and interactions between the built environment and the natural world, merging abstracted images of water in its various forms – rivers, lakes, clouds and ice – with industrial and architectural structures. The earth’s surface and atmosphere are three-quarters water, and just one-quarter everything else. Water is ever shapeshifting from liquid to vapor to solid. It is the most visible, dynamic and plentiful substance of the natural world. We talk and hear about it every day – too much rain; not enough rain; atmospheric rivers; coastal floods; river floods; melting glaciers. I see water as the ideal subject to contemplate the laws that govern nature as it ceaselessly advances, trespasses and embarrasses our every effort to keep it at bay. The natural world is forever transforming, extravagant and relentless. My artwork contemplates and compares nature’s power with a built world that inevitably fails to endure.
Additional Info:
Artist Website: Mo Kelman
Instagram: @mo.kelman
Part of Growing the NetWorks
This artist was selected by a past NetWorks Rhode Island participant as part of Growing the NetWorks — a 2025 exhibition presented by WaterFire Providence, at the WaterFire Arts Center, celebrating peer-nominated artists from across Rhode Island. Learn more at waterfire.org/growingthenetworks
Highlighting the work of selected artists who have played vital roles in shaping the contemporary visual arts community in Rhode Island. This collection of brief video portraits provides a window into the lives, practices, and cultural contributions of professional artists.
