Bella Kelly

Bella Kelly (1915-1994) was born near Mt Barker in the Great Southern district of Western Australia. As a young girl she lived on farms in the area doing domestic work, she had little control over her own living conditions. When Bella began painting in the 1940s using watercolour on paper, she painted the country around here, including the Stirling Ranges and Bluff Knoll.

From the 1970s Bella began using acrylic paint and gouache, painting onto canvas and canvas boards as well as paper. Selling paintings was an important income source for Bella and her family. It was also a cathartic and emotional response to the harshness of life. Bella sold her artworks to local farms or bartered them for food and provisions. Bella began signing her works from 1954 when the hospital nurse in Narrogin taught her how to make her signature. Bella had never learned to read or write, and her signature remains highly identifiable.

Bella Kelly’s paintings had a great influence on the well-documented Carrolup School of painting, featuring Noongar children’s art which toured internationally. Four of Bella’s children were living at the Carrolup Native Settlement in the 1940s, where this painting movement evolved, and they were all quite connected to their mother’s artwork.

Curator Annette Davis, when talking about the Bella Kelly Retrospective held in Albany and Perth states; “Her paintings are significant for a few reasons. She was an Aboriginal woman living in difficult times. Despite the challenges she was painting and selling her paintings. Her paintings feature the country where she was living. They convey a strong connection to country.”

Bella’s daughters Cheryl and Caroline Narkle state, “We remember our mother as a great inspiration. She was a role model for us and for other Noongars. She was always painting – she’d sit down, with her family around her and paint her pictures. She loved painting the Stirling Ranges and she’d talk to us as she painted – there was always a story to tell. She got a lot of respect from people. In those days Noongars used to be shamed, but our mum used to talk to them all. We are really proud of her art. We are both artists, and we hope that our children and grandchildren will do the same.”

Solo Exhibitions

2016   Bella Kelly Retrospective, Vancouver Gallery, Albany WA

2016   Bella Kelly Retrospective, John Curtin Gallery

2016   Nexus Space, Narrogin WA

Group Exhibitions

1991   Bella Kelly, Alma Toomath, Michelle Broun, Fremantle Art Centre, Fremantle WA

Articles

The Art and Influence of Bella Kelly

South West WA Aboriginal Art