Clover Kelly

---

Clover Kelly (she/her & they/them) is a transgender writer and illustrator raised and currently living in central Pennsylvania. They’ve worked in many visual mediums over the course of their lifetime, including digital painting, acrylic on canvas, pen and paper, and more. They use illustration and storytelling as a way to externalize and crystallize the vague ideas and stories that haunt their mind every waking moment of their life. 

Ever since she was born, she has been surrounded by art and artists. Her mother, local artist Jenifer Kelly, has been a professional visual and performance artist since long before Clover was even conceived. Her father, Robert Kelly, loves to doodle, play the piano and guitar, and listen to his large collection of music. Cover believes the source of her childhood interest in art and stories lies in the influence of her parents and the comics, movies, video games, TTRPGs, narrative podcasts, and animated shows she enjoyed growing up. Illustration and visual design became a great focus in middle school, when she added a digital drawing tablet to her collection of art supplies. More recently, writing and story crafting has become her main focus when her love of reading was rekindled by the Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir—a series she is still trying to find the time to finish. 

Clover’s artistic journey grows like dandelions and weeds between the obstacles in their life. From energy and motivation problems, executive dysfunction, and many other struggles brought on by mental illness, it’s difficult to find furtive opportunities for creative expression. The slim, fleeting opportunities they do get are filled with great passion and joy that remind them why they make art in the first place.

Having recently returned from a life changing workshop run by Vermont’s cartooning laureate, Tillie Walden, and the Center for Cartooning Studies in White River Junction, Vermont, Clover is enjoying the opportunity to again focus on visual art without distraction at Colerain Mansion.