Background
She was born in California, the daughter of suffragette Hester Lambert Harland. Kate first visited Hawaii with her mother in 1898, at age 16.
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Kate Kelly
Edit ProfileEducation
She studied at the Partington Art School in San Francisco, where she met the painter and printmaker John Melville Kelly, whom she married in 1908.
Career
After living in San Francisco, the couple went to Hawaii in 1923. Their plan was to stay a year, while John worked for an advertising agency creating material to promote tourism. They fell in love with the islands and the people and stayed permanently.
The Kellys immediately identified with the native Hawaiians and became their champions in images and in print.
Kelly’s sculptures in public places include:
Hawaiian Head, Joseph “Red” Kaua, bronze bust, ca. 1930s, John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery, Honolulu Museum of Art
Kaipo, Sketch of a Hawaiian Chinese Boy, bronze bust, 1933, John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery, Honolulu Museum of Art
Bas-relief of King Kalākaua, old Bethel Street Police Station, Honolulu
Amelia Earhart plaque, Diamond Head Lookout, Honolulu.
