Biography

Kelly McConnell Cox was born in Pennsylvania in 1973, grew up in and now resides in Chester County.  While Kelly displayed a talent in art since she was very young, her professional training began as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware in Newark, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Degree with Distinction in 1996.  In 1999 she earned a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the prestigious Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute, College of Art.  Her mentors, Grace Hartigan and Raoul Middleman, helped Kelly refine her basic interest in light and the human form into more meaningful situations within the canvas space.  Much of Kelly's work portrays her commitment to her roots and tradition, as revealed in her paintings of her local surroundings and Jersey Shore.  Her love of animals and open space is revealed in her most recent work.  After two eye-opening trips to Tanzania, Africa, Kelly has been painting African wildlife in their natural habitat.  She is also known for her striking commissioned portraits of people and animals.  Her portraits of the late Governor Carvel and Dean Nye are hanging in The University of Delaware's public collections.  Kelly has been painting professionally since 1999 and exhibits her work in galleries throughout the Tri-State area, including Annapolis Marine Art Gallery of Annapolis, MD, Lambertville Gallery of Lambertville, NJ, Carspecken-Scott Gallery of Wilmington, DE, William Ris Gallery of Stone Harbor, NJ, Sunset Hill Fine Arts Gallery of West Chester, PA, and Beresford Gallery of Unionville, PA.  She has over two hundred pieces in private collections.

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