Kelley Bell
Associate Professor
Graduate Program Director
Graphic Design
410-455-2150 FA 108
kbell@cakeweek.com
Kelley Bell incorporates animation, illustration, and many other visual media in her graphic design practice.
She started as a freelance artist in New York City, with a diverse portfolio of clients including MTV Networks, The Walt Disney Company, clothing designers Marithe Fracoois Girbaud, and Strictly Rhythm records.
Leaving the Big City
for Charm City
, she established an independent graphic design studio, KBell Design, focused on print media for non-profit organizations in the Baltimore – DC region. Past clients include youth media group Wide Angle Media, the Creative Alliance at the Patterson, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and the Maryland State Teacher’s Association.
Her animated work appeared in and literally on Baltimore City in two series of public guerilla-style projections: White Light, Black Birds and Rise and Fall of the Land of Pleasant Living. These projects compared the benefits and downsides of urban development through imagery and animations projected on specific sites facing transformation (or destruction) due to economic and cultural factors.
Kelley’s animations have been screened locally and as far away as Berlin, Germany. Screenings include the American Visionary Arts Museum, the Annapolis Film Festival, The Transmodern Arts Festival, and the University of Maryland College Park. She was a recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in 2004, and a semifinalist for the Sondheim Art Prize in 2010.
Kelley holds an MFA from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in Imaging and Digital Arts, and a BFA in Graphic Design from Pratt Institute.