Gary Kelley, illustrator extraordinaire, passed away yesterday. I had the pleasure of meeting Gary in my younger years, and later interviewed him for my column about him ("The Artist Who Paints Music" in The Saturday Evening Post).
Gary was a remarkable talent, and was recognized by his peers as such. Artist Greg Manchess said, "My own career was set afire by his influence and guidance. He is a North Star in my life as an artist." Gary was awarded 28 gold and silver medals from the Society of Illustrators and was elected to the Society's Hall of Fame in 2007. There are tributes popping up from many people who knew him better and are better qualified to speak than I. But I wanted to share one reason (among many) why I admired him.
Gary understood when to hang on and when to keep moving. When other illustrators were relocating for their work, moving to urban areas where artists and clients congregate and dressing differently, Gary resolved to remain in small town Iowa here he enjoyed the quality of life. He believed that he could build a thriving career living where he wanted, and he was right.
The cool thing was that living in Cedar Falls, Iowa (not far from Wild Horse Ridge in Black Hawk County) didn't constrain Gary's ability to come up with the most sophisticated, gritty noir illustrations of urban scenes or allegorical pictures of the cosmos.
He was not just painting folksy pictures of the corner barber shop. His imagination was unbounded.
Gary stubbornly remained in Cedar Falls, yet when the traditional illustration field began changing, he was nimble about pulling up stakes and moving on. As illustrated magazines began drying up, Kelley created huge murals and wrote and illustrated graphic novels and painted pictures that were projected above a symphony orchestra as they played classical music.
He was welcomed in all these venues because he was recognized everywhere as a picture maker to be taken seriously.
Gary Kelley, a man who knew how to separate the wheat from the chaff, will be sorely missed.