Artist Bio

Staking site for Haudenosaunee "Solar Longhouse", 2012 Version
at Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario.
(Photo credit: Naomi Johnson)

Kelly Greene is a Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and a descendant of Turtle Clan. She works with several mediums that include painting, sculpture, installation, and photo montage.

Kelly has lived in London, Ontario since 1989, where she was honoured to give birth and raise her two amazing children, and where she still resides with her husband. She obtained a BFA from Western University after beginning her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she moved with her family when she was a child.

She has exhibited in Canada and the United States for over thirty years in solo and group exhibits, primarily at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario. But she is also grateful to have exhibited at galleries in Banff, Alberta; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and London, Ontario; Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Howes Cave, New York. Her work is in several public and private collections, and in 2012 and 2015 she was commissioned to complete two permanent outdoor installations at the Woodland Cultural Centre. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was honoured to be chosen as the first Indigenous Artist in Residence at Western University in 2021.

Her art focuses primarily on environmental, Haudenosaunee, and auto-biographical topics, using humour when possible. Recognizing the impact colonization has had on our Earth and the First People who have always lived on the land now known as Canada, Greene specifically refers to the Haldimand Treaty granted to her ancestors of Six Nations, as well as the Mohawk Institute Residential School, or “Mush Hole”, where her beautiful Grandma attended in the 1920’s. Another concern is the current plight of bees, vanishing due to human activity and overpopulation. The ever-alarming condition of our planet has inspired Greene to create works that represent our Mother Earth as human, appealing to our species' egocentricity, hoping empathy will be instilled and respect given so future generations will be able to thrive, not only survive. 

Curriculum Vitae

Selected Exhibitions

2024
Land Matters: Shifting Ground
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


2023
50th Anniversary Members' Show & Sale, in support of FCG & the Embassy Cultural House
Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario

Indigenous Art
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

Artists’ Connection #7 - Sense of Self
Dundas School of Art Gallery, Dundas, Ontario

UPwithART
Unity Project for Relief of Homelessness in partnership with Museum London, Ontario

This is YOUR Crisis. Fix It.
Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Ontario


2022
Imagine Build Art Auction
Aeolian Hall, London, Ontario

Indigenous Art
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

In My Dreams (solo)
Glenhyrst Gallery, Brantford, Ontario

Dejidwaya'do:weht (We are Thinking of it Again): The Mush Hole Project 2.0
Mohawk Institute Residential School ("Mush Hole")/
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

Continuing Accountability (solo)
Artlab - Visual Art Department, Western University, London, Ontario

UPwithART
Unity Project for Relief of Homelessness in partnership with Museum London, Ontario


International Women's Day 2022 Exhibition
Westland Gallery, London, Ontario


2021
Indigenous Art
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

Ga:hǫh ne’ hni’ ga:howe:kso/Covered and Uncovered
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

UPwithART
Unity Project for Relief of Homelessness in partnership with Museum London, Ontario

Selected Acquisitions 2015-2020
McIntosh Gallery, London, Ontario


2020
UPwithART
Unity Project for Relief of Homelessness in partnership with Museum London, Ontario


Accountability (solo)
McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London, Ontario


2019
Indigenous Art
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

Accountability Amidst Wisdom (solo)
The White Box at Beaux Arts Brampton, Ontario



2018
Indigenous Art
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

Tonto, Teepees, and Totem Poles: Considering Native American Stereotypes in the 21st Century
Iroquois Indian Museum, Howes Cave, New York

Despite All Misconception and Loss... (solo)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


2017
First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


2016
Mush Hole Project
Mohawk Institute Residential School ("Mush Hole")/ Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


2015
Culture Days (solo)
Chiefswood National Historic Site, Ohsweken, Ontario


Planet IndigenUs InterNations/InterSections
Aboriginal Pavilion at Fort York, Toronto, Ontario (July 13 - Aug. 9) 
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario (permanently installed)

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


2014
First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


2013
Origins
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


2012
Earthly Connections
(In conjunction with “Planet Indigenous” Visual Art Exhibitions: Aug. 1019)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


2007 - 2011
First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


2006
From Iroquois to Haudenosaunee
Gary Farmer Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


2002
Between You and Me
(Opening Night Performance, June 21)
Museum London, London, Ontario


2000-2002
Dust on the Road
Galleries at the Galleria, London, Ontario
MAI, Montreal, Quebec
Roundhouse Community Centre, Vancouver, B.C.


1999
First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


1998
Tsi Karhakta: Aktatye tsi Yohate (“At the Edge of the Woods Along the Highway”)
The Saw Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

staking LAND claims
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


1997
Godi’Nigoha (“The Women’s Mind")
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

staking LAND claims
Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Alberta
Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario



1996
Oh Canada!
[“Be It So It Remains in Our Minds” by Gei ni yo gwe dage (Four People Together)]
The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

Members’ Show
Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario


1995
Remembrance
Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario

Spring Free Performance Festival
Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

Billboard Project
N’Amerind Friendship Centre, Gould Outdoor Advertising,
and the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation
in conjunction with Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario


1994 
Festive Banquet
Harbourfront Centre – York Quay Gallery, Toronto, Ontario


Between Cultures Arts Dialogue
Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

“Iroquois Solar Longhouse”, 1994 Version (solo)

Museum of Ontario Archaeology, London, Ontario


1993
Festival of Lights
Harbourfront Centre – York Quay Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

A Cup for a Cup
Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario


1992
NIIPA Members’ Show
Native Indian/Inuit Photographers’ Association, Hamilton, Ontario

First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario


1991
First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

16 x 20
London Regional Art and Historic Museum, London, Ontario


1990
First Nations Art (changed to Indigenous Art in 2018)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

Significant People, Insignificant Objects/
Significant Objects,Insignificant People
London Regional Art and Historic Museum, London, Ontario




Selected Publications & Interviews

2024
Dejidway'do:weht (We are Thinking of it Again): The Mush Hole Project 2.0 
Film screening on Feb 16 (Installation, Deception, Reality, and Regeneration included)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

"Tributes to Tom Hill” (homages by Patricia Deadman, Ron Benner & Jamelie Hassan, and myself)
Embassy Cultural House Tabloid, London, ON, February 2024


2023
Indigenous Art formerly First Nations Art (1990-2017)
(included in annual catalogues 1990-1992, 2006-2019, 2022 & 2023)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, ON

"Kelly Greene, Artist Residency Western University” by Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD
First American Art Magazine, Norman, OK, Issue No. 39 Summer 2023 (July-September)


2022
PBS Brief But Spectacular Interview Series with Tia Kennedy, founder of Kiinew Kwe
(included artworks: "My Grandma, from Eleanor to Royal" and topmost detail from 
"Creation Story Tree Tower") 
PBS NewsHour, Alyssa Ortega Coppelman, Archival Producer, New York, NY, October 2
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/brief/424781/tia-kennedy

"Mohawk artist shares her dreams in Glenhyrst exhibit" by Ally Penders

Brant Beacon, Brantford, ON, September 8
https://www.brantbeacon.ca/mohawk-artist-shares-her-dreams-in-glenhyrst-exhibit/

"Indigenous artist explores 'what could have been'" by Brian Thompson
The Expositor, Brantford, ON, September 6
http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca

In My Dreams
Glenhyrst Art Gallery - Satellite artist website with exhibit brochure, Brantford, ON
“Continuing Accountability” by Madeline Lennon
Centred.ca, London, ON, May 12
“Western University Indigenous Artist in Residence”, Drive with Chris dela Torre
CBC Listen, London, ON, November 1
“Kelly Greene first Indigenous artist-in-residence” by Debora Van Brenk
Western News, London, ON, October 26
“Poetic License" by Lucius Dechausay
Video of 'Decolonizing Love' by Kahsenniyo Williams
includes "The Haldimand Coupe"
CBC Arts, London, ON, September 30


2020
“Accountability Amidst Uncertainty” by Asha Sivarajah
Radio Western, London, ON, March 18

“Two new exhibitions open at Western University's McIntosh Gallery” by Joe Belanger
The Londoner, London, ON, March 4


2016
“See What the Mush Hole Left Behind by Victoria Gray
Brant News, Brantford, ON, September 12
https://www.toronto.com/news-story/6853563-see-what-the-mush-hole-left-behind/


2015
Planet Indigenus - InterNations/ InterSections
Harbourfront Centre (Fort York) & Woodland Cultural Centre, Toronto & Brantford, ON

http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/learntoskate/courses.cfm?id=7121&festival_id=0


2012
Planet Indigenus
Harbourfront Centre & Woodland Cultural Centre, Toronto & Brantford, ON

http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/summer/festivals.cfm?id=3832


2011
“Telling their side of the story” by Lauren Baron
Brant News, Brantford, ON, August 25


2002
"Show Kicks Up a Dust" by Robin Laurence
The Georgia Straight, Vancouver, BC, March 14-21, p. 66


2001
"Pasage to India" by Christine Redfern
Mirror, Montreal, QC, November 15-21, p. 39

"Mouvances de l'Inde" by Bernard Lamarche
Le Devoir, Montreal, QC, November 10-11, p. C11


1999
"The Magic Mountain" by Robert Everett-Green
Canadian Art Magazine, Fall issue, Volume 16, Number 3, p. 61

http://canadianart.ca/issues/fall-1999/

Staking LAND Claims
Banff Centre Press, Banff, AB, March 1999, pp. 11-15, 25-27, 35, 39-40


1998
"Staking Claims" by Patricia Deadman
Matriart Magazine, Volume 7:3, pp. 28-32

"Allegorical Imagery Dominates Art" by Garry Burns
The Expositor, Brantford, ON, February 28, p. D3

"Staking Land Claims Exhibit Sets a Provocative Tone"
Wadrihwa, Woodland Cultural Centre Quarterly Newsletter, Spring/Summer, p. 13


1997
Godi'Nigoha' (The Women's Mind) 
Woodland Cultural Centre Exhibition Catalogue, pp.19-20, 29, 30

"Walter Phillips Gallery Exhibition Questions Identity" by Johnnie Bachusky
Summit Up, Banff, AB, February 18, pp. 1, 5


1996
"The Oh! Canada Project"
Art Gallery of Ontario News Magazine, Toronto, ON, p. 9


1995
"Remembrance:  Powerful and Moving" by Avril Flanigan
Scene Magazine, London, ON, November 22, p. 11

"Get a Start on New Native Art" by Jeannie Marshall
Equinox Magazine, October, No. 83, p. 117


1994
"Festival of Lights" (Telecast Review) by Andrew Johnson
CBC Arts and Entertainment (television broadcast), December 11

"Longhouse Tales" by Morris Lamont
London Free Press, London, ON, March 22

"Members' Show" by Vicki Montour
Native Indian/Inuit Photographers' Association Newsletter, Hamilton, ON, Winter Issue, p.5



Education

BFA, Western University, London, ON, 1994
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, US, 1983-1988



Collections

Department of Visual Arts, Western University, London, ON
Dundas Valley School of ArtHamilton, ON
McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London, ON
Wampum Learning Lodge, Western University, London, ON
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, ON
Private collections in Canada and United States



Grants and Residency

Indigenous Artist in Residence, Western University, London, ON, 2021-2023
Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant1998, 1996
Canada Council for the Arts Visual Art Project Grant, 
1997



Related Experience

2023 - present
Board Member
Forest City Gallery, London, ON

2023
Artist Presentation - "Origins of  the Haudenosaunee 'Solar Longhouse' Project"
Peetooteewiit Storytelling & Knowledge Sharing
Wampum Learning Lodge, Western University, London, ON, April 26 

Collaborative Research Project - "Playing for Keeps"
Investigating Sustainability Potential of Playgrounds
Supported by Western University's Pilot Program, "Thinking GloballyActing Locally" 
Western University, London, ON, March - May

Artist Presentation - "Sustain.Ability"
Mustang Lounge, University Community Centre, Western University, London, ON, March 8

Artist Presentation - "Ivey Sustainability Week"
BMO Auditorium, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, ON, January 31 

Collaborative Land-Based Art Installation
Ivey Business School, Western University, London, ON, January 28

Collaborative Instructor for Installation Project - Sculpture Undergrad Class
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, January 9 - February 8

Artist Presentation - Sculpture Undergrad Class
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, January 9 


2022
Artist Presentation - "Ivey Sustainability Conference"
Ivey Building Sustainable Value Research Centre, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, ON, December 9 

Coordinator - Artist/Curator/Professor/Writer/Historian Presentation: Rick Hill
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, September 21

Artist Presentation - "Dream Big Lecture Series"
N'Amerind Friendship Centre, London, ON, May 17 

Artist Presentation - Tour of "Continuing Accountability" for general public
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, May 12

Artist Presentation - Tour of "Continuing Accountability" for President Shepard, Dean Milde, Chairperson Robin, and Visual Art Faculty 
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, April 29

Garden Maintenance Attendant for "Haudenosaunee Solar Longhouse, 2012 Version"
(monthly maintenance during growing season, 2012-2022)
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

Coordinator - Performance Presentation: Eagle Flight Singers
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, April 7

Artist Presentation - Sculpture Undergrad Class
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, March 23

Artist Presentation - Breaking the Bias at Western: Celebrating Indigenous Women & Culture
International Women's Day Speaker Series
Centre for Research & Education on Violence against Women & Children (CREVAWC)
in partnership with Gender-Based Violence Prevention Education Coordinators,
Western University, London, ON, March 9

Artist Presentation - Graduate Studio Elective Course
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, February 14

Artist Presentation - Studio Seminar II Undergrad Class
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, February 4



2021
Artist Presentation - School for Advanced Studies in Arts and Humanities
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, November 19

Coordinator - Artist/Curator Presentation: Patricia Deadman
Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON, November 7


2020
A Driving Force, Women of the London, Ontario Visual Arts Community, 1867 to the Present
McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London, ON

2019
Visiting Artist Presentation - Art at Large, Society for Learning in Retirement
Museum of Ontario Archaeology, London, ON


2017
Visiting Artist Presentation/ Workshop - Dundas Valley School of Art
Flamborough Centre Elementary School, Flamborough, ON
George L. Armstrong Elementary School, Hamilton, ON


2012 - 2024
Garden Attendant of "Haudenosaunee Solar Longhouse, 2012 Version"
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, ON


2000-2011
Assistant Scenic Painter, Prop Builder, Costume Decorator
The Grand Theatre, London, ON


1996
Still Photographer - "Stoney Pointers: Untold Stories"
Thunderheart Productions, London, ON


1995
Co-coordinator/ Curator/ Exhibiting Artist - "Remembrance"
Forest City Gallery, London, ON

Co-coordinator/ Instructor - Children's Summer Art Camp
London Regional Art and Historic Museums (now Museum London), London, ON

Coordinator/ Curator - Between Cultures Arts Dialogue
Forest City Gallery and Cross-Cultural Learning Centre, London, ON

Vice-Chairperson
Forest City Gallery, London, ON


1994
Visual Arts Coordinator
Forest City Gallery, London, ON

Instructor/ Co-coordinator/ Instructor Assistant - Children's Saturday Art Classes
London Regional Art and Historic Museum (now Museum London), London, ON