The paintings in this exhibit are painted in the style of trompe l’oeil (French for to fool the eye.) I view this style of painting as an illusion. It is my attempt to represent three dimensional objects on a two dimensional plane. To convince the viewer the objects they are looking at are the actual objects, not a painted representation. I want to grab the viewers’ attention from across the room…

Exhibit runs July 7 – August 7, 2016.

Fieldscapes, an exhibit of fifty impressionistic landscapes, depicts the horizontal vistas of the upper Red River Valley. The exact square dimensions of each natural wood panel painting, is inspired by the checkerboard pattern dividing the farmers’ fields.

Kelli Nelson is a Minneapolis-based painter and educator. A Grand Forks native, Nelson earned her BFA in painting from the University of North Dakota in 2010. In the spring of 2013 she completed her MFA, concentrating of drawing and painting, at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Currently, she teaches drawing and painting at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts. Nelson’s work always starts with the body. Figurative forms…