Kelsey Lemonberry

I was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1985. My family moved to a small town in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains when I was four and I spent the next thirteen years stomping through creeks, devouring books, helping out in the family hardware store and auditioning for community theater. 

Though I had always loved to draw, I first plumbed the depth of my love for art while studying at the University of Virginia, where I received a B.A. in Studio Art with a focus in Printmaking. During this time, I worked as a scenic artist in various student and professional-grade theaters in Charlottesville. After graduation, I was awarded the Fifth Year Aunspaugh Fellowship, which allowed me to spend an additional year at UVa teaching printmaking and making art. Upon completion of the fellowship, I packed all of my things into a third of a trunk and headed out west, sight unseen. I settled down in Portland, Oregon, where I spent the next four years making art, curating shows and painting murals. 

In the summer of 2011, I was accepted into a printmaking workshop in Florence, Italy, where I spent a month learning the intricacies of color reduction woodcut and mezzotint. This return to the press re-ignited my love for papers and inks. When I came home to the States, I packed my trunk one last time and moved to a small town in the Columbia River Gorge. I now reside on an organic vegetable farm in Hood River, Oregon, where I work as an artist by day, a server by night and a teaching artist by appointment.