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ArtByArachne
ArtByArachne

ArtByArachne

Vendor Biography

Me standing just outside of my studio door

Kwe kwe! My name is Margaret Ann Konwawennontion Kelly and I am originally from Brooklyn, NY.  You can call me a Native New Yorker and enjoy the double entendre.

I am the granddaughter of a Mohawk of Kahnawake iron worker who brought his family to Brooklyn, NY to make a living. My grandfather was an amazing man who taught me how to read at 5 and to appreciate my dreams, old movies, books, dance, theatre, museums, and the like. His mother, father, grandparents, and siblings used to travel to Europe in the Wild West shows. That is a drop in the bucket of some of my history albeit ancient.

In the early 70’s, he moved back to Kahnawake and two years later, I followed. Soon afterward, I attended Indian Way School which was located at the 207 Longhouse. Here, I learned loom work, spiral beading, and freehand.  I still remember how to build a loom and I remember how to  use it. I may still remember other things as well.

Although I had moved back to NYC in the early 80’s, years after my grandfather passed, I came back to keep the homestead from falling in on itself. I now reside in the home of my ancestors.

Skills? I am a doodler who always loved to dabble with art. I got my first easel when I was around 5 years old and I got toe shoes when I was around 10. Thankfully, I did not try to be a ballerina.

Honestly, I was taught grammar school art of which I remember finger painting and making a heart out of sawdust, glue, and glitter. While in college, I took one art class and that is it.

I can’t say directly that my art represents my Indigenous heritage. If anything, it represents me in my skin as an Indigenous woman who was raised in Gotham. As such, my life and all of its abstractions are reflected. Not withstanding, my native heritage has a way of sneaking out when I am not looking.  Then again, most of my work is on a subconscious level as the paint or pencil leads me to where it wants me to go.

Before I end this short bio, my grandmother was amazing with creating quilts, clothes, doilies, sweaters, and blankets. She danced a mighty fine jig and she  cooked the most amazing meals. My mom was a child who had a child so I was raised by my grandparents until my grandmother passed.

Some of my current art is a result of the pain I felt at the loss of my mother. My mother was my best friend and confidant who taught me how to be independent and strong. I often hear her voice in my own and find myself doing what she would have done. She left me too soon.

After my mom passed, I was a wreck. My boyfriend suggested that I release myself and all my emotions into my art. I find that emotion drives creation in one form or another.

More recently, my baby sister passed on July 25, 2020 and on that day I had created a painting called When Worlds Collide. I destroyed that painting and created something in its stead that spoke of the tears I cried for her. That is all for now.