Artist Profile

Kelly has spent her life along rocky Pacific coast shores learning fiber arts, sewing, photography, sculpture, wood working, illustration, botany and biology. An innovative multimodal artist, she has been immersed in the creative process since birth, constantly working to record and interpret the world.

After attending CSU Monterey Bay and co-founding the Octopi Collective, Kelly stepped away from the business of studio art and turned her focus to raising children and continuing her art practice in the margins of life. Her love of textiles compelled her to teach herself weaving; both on and off loom, basketry and surface pattern design.

In 2024, after 14 years of creating behind doors, she returned to showing. Her current work focuses on processing grief - both personal and collective levels, moving away from colonialist mindsets, and appreciating the beauty of decay. She currently resides near Olympia Wa.

All art, surface pattern designs, prints, photography and thoughts on this website are the thoughts, physical and intellectual property of the artist, Kelly Watson, 2025.

Portrait by Cooper Carras 2024

Shows, Exhibitions, Media

Solo Exhibitions

2025

“Forest Tides”, Selected works, Last Word Books, Olympia Fall Arts Walk, Olympia WA

2024

“Forest Tides”, Stardust Salon, Olympia Fall Arts Walk, Olympia WA

Group Exhibitions

2026

"Malleable", Umpqua Valley Arts, Red Door Gallery, Roseburg OR
“Chrysalis”, Thurston County Museum of Modern Art, Olympia WA
“Down the Rabbit Hole”, Copper Wolf Gallery, Tumwater WA

2025

“Deep Sleep”, Copper Wolf Gallery, Tumwater WA
“Being Edgy; Perspectives on Death, Dying, Loss & Living”, Olympia Fall Arts Walk, Olympia WA, August
“Pattern and Structure”, Marmo Gallery, Shelton WA
“I Saw The Autumn In Her Eyes”, Socha Arts, Olympia WA
“She Speaks To The Trees”, Socha Arts, Olympia WA

2024

“Nested Redux”, Socha Arts, Olympia WA
“Nested”, Goldberg Building, Downtown Olympia WA, Olympia Artspace Alliance: Art in Storefronts, “Community”

2022

“Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum Fall Festival”, Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum, La Conner WA

2009

“From This Stone and Anvil: Arthurian Legend Exposed and Abstracted”, National Steinbeck Center, Salinas CA

2008

“Corporeal: Octopi Collective Anniversary”, Jose’s Underground, Monterey CA

2007

“Octopi Collective”, Hawthorne Warehouse, Sand City CA
“Madonna”, Cafe Lumiere, Monterey CA
“Untapped Desires”, Hawthorne Warehouse, Sand City CA

2006

Capstone Show, Cal State Monterey Bay, Marina California
“West End”, Sand City CA

2005

Inaugural Balfour-Brutzman Gallery Show, California State University Monterey Bay, Marina CA
“Chairs”, Monterey Regional Airport, Monterey CA

Residencies, Grants and Awards

2024

Space Grant, Olympia Artspace Alliance

Associations

2026

Olympia Artspace Alliance Board Member, Development

2023-2026

F.I.G. Art Collective

2007-2009

Octopi Collective Co-Founder

Publications

2023

“Transition Phase” 2023, Flora Fiction Magazine

Education

California State University Monterey Bay, Visual and Public Art