International Caucus/UN Program Honor Roll
2022
Anne Kantor Kellett
As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, the underlying themes of duality, vulnerability and surviving recur in Anne Kantor Kellett’s art. Kantor Kellett is in pursuit of expressing our environment and communicating the human condition through engaging and thought-provoking work. Her artwork focuses on both beauty and tragedy and while they come to be expressed in the diverse forms of sculptures, abstract paintings, prints, and photographs, they all flow together on the same humanistic spectrum of reflection.
The Rwandan genocide also impacted her art and moved her to lead 3 missions to Rwanda, to help women survivors heal. Anne’s current body of work is concerned with the burden of all survivors, bearing unbearable memories and at times transcending them.
During a trip to Rwanda, she realized the role she could play in directly supporting economic development efforts for genocide survivors involved in Rwanda Knits project, in conjunction with UNIFEM. As a result, she started an online business, Made for Peace, as a means to develop and bring to market products produced by Rwandan women genocide survivors.
Anne attended the High School of Music, National Academy School of Design, and also studied at the Art Students League and the International Center for Photography, in New York. Anne was also the recipient of a Newington Cropsey Foundation Fellowship for Sculpture under the direction of Greg Wyatt.
Anne is a graduate of Fordham University and holds a B.A. in Social Work and Social Science. She served on the Fordham Social Work Field Placement Advisory Board and served on the Business Council for Peace Governing Board and chaired the Rwanda Action Team from 2001 to 2006. Anne also chaired the Business Women in Training Program for the Catholic Big Sisters Program, helping young girls learn about business and launch a retail website.
Currently, she works in her studio in Bucks County. PA. Her work has also been shown in numerous shows and galleries across the country and is in many private collections, including UN WOMEN, and the US State Department.
Visit Anne's website for more:
www.kantorkellett.com/
Left Image: Childless Mother
Hydrocal, Bronze Patina,
8 x 16 x 6”
Loss of a child. Grief. Emptiness. Longing. Love. Hole in the heart. Empty place in her arms. I wanted it to have a fragile and fluid quality about it. As if it could dissolve at any moment
Right Image: Yizkor
Hydrocal, Pewter Patina,
8 x 18 x 10”.
Remember - Prayer for the Dead – close family member, parents, child. This piece is exhaling, and is about letting go. While this piece has a pewter, metal, finish, it is not cold in nature. He is facing up. Hopeful.
Hydrocal, Bronze Patina,
8 x 16 x 6”
Loss of a child. Grief. Emptiness. Longing. Love. Hole in the heart. Empty place in her arms. I wanted it to have a fragile and fluid quality about it. As if it could dissolve at any moment
Right Image: Yizkor
Hydrocal, Pewter Patina,
8 x 18 x 10”.
Remember - Prayer for the Dead – close family member, parents, child. This piece is exhaling, and is about letting go. While this piece has a pewter, metal, finish, it is not cold in nature. He is facing up. Hopeful.
Left Image: Kheyder (Gas Chamber)
Oil on Canvas
48 x 78”
Because the subject matter of the holocaust and genocide is not something easily faced, I try to create something viewers become engaged in, many times before they realize the content of subject. This facilitates internal dialogue, as well as external discussions amongst viewers.
The light in this painting is not coming from an outside source, but from the victims themselves. I wanted the colors to resonate and convey that the spirit lives on and cannot be extinguished.
Right Image: Rifka
Pastel on Paper,
37 ½ x 57”
This is the Hardest piece I ever made. This is my mother before she went into hiding with her mother, a sister, and some cousins. They were hidden in an attic. She stayed hidden from us. My mother’s eyes never changed. But she had a keen sense of humor. Again, binary opposition. Joy, Sadness. Laughing, Crying. Extremes.
Left Image: In 1994, while the country was glued to TV's watching OJ Simpson, Rwanda erupted in a genocide that resulted in the killing of a million people in 90 days. I traveled to Rwanda for the first time in 2005. I felt an affinity to the people. I saw my mother’s eyes everywhere. I spent time at Avega, a widow association where we introduced hand operated knitting machines and trained women. Laughing one minute, sad the next.
Right Image: Mine Eyes
Another Widow. She was very beautiful. I wanted to capture what she communicated with her permanent tears in her eyes.
Right Image: Mine Eyes
Another Widow. She was very beautiful. I wanted to capture what she communicated with her permanent tears in her eyes.