Vanessa Kelly Wilken was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in September of 1977. She excelled in the arts at an early age, completing her first painting at age eleven. By the time the artist reached her teenage years her family had migrated to Seattle and Vanessa was merging into the urban art landscape.

Her work has been shaped by the stylistic components of her mother’s own visual artwork and the social urgencies and journalistic rantings of her father. Her creative process is informed by the multi-cultural layerings of human life. It does not draw from one particular art movement, but instead, relies on new interpretations of art as a collective theory, undiscovered art movements, as well as traditional acrylic standards.

Vanessa’s had a fervent commitment to painting and sketching since childhood. She learns through experimentation and self-guidance, spending many happy hours in her makeshift art studio in the corner of the house. She’s particularly interested in figure painting and has a penchant for color experimentation.

The Artist’s work includes studies of the nude human figure, physiognomy, and her unique take on portraiture.

Vanessa is currently a full time graduate student at the University of Washington. She lives in Seattle, Washington where she is Managing Editor of the online magazine The Commonline Project.

July 2007