Kathleen Kelly is a self-taught artist who has been
working in clay since the mid 1970’s. In the early years, Kathleen sold her work in arts and craft shows in the western U.S.

In the 1980’s Kathleen found a way to faithfully reproduce her animal designs and started her own small giftware company, “The Critter Factory”. Critter Factory animals enjoyed widespread popularity, selling all over the U.S.

In the 1990’s Kathleen licensed her characters to a major giftware manufacturer who produced and marketed her designs all over the world.

Today, Kathleen is in a new phase of her creative life. She has relocated to Paducah, Kentucky, to a newly developed art district called Lower Town. Surrounded by other artists, who have relocated here from all over the world, Kathleen is expanding her creativity and developing new work. Her new studio is called Klayworks. Klayworks offers unique handmade pieces that have the signature playful, whimsical look of Kathleens work, but with a new edge. Kathleen is conducting workshops in her Lower Town studio hoping to share her love, experience and enthusiasm for working in clay.