KELLY, GRACE VERONICA (31 Jan. 1877-10 Jan. 1950) parlayed her experience as a painter to achieve a second career as art critic for the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. The daughter of Irish immigrants, Thomas and Mary Hart Kelly, she was born in Cleveland and received her first art lessons at St. Joseph's Convent on Starkweather Ave. Entering the Cleveland School of Art (see CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART), she studied under HENRY G. KELLER† there and in Keller's popular summer school in Berlin Hts. While still a student she also began teaching watercolor classes at the School of Art, where she continued to teach for several years after her graduation in 1896. In 1904 she opened a commercial art studio on Prospect Ave. She was invited to become the Plain Dealer's art critic by Editor ERIE C. HOPWOOD† in 1926, on the strength of a series of sketches she had written on Cleveland landmarks, which were also a favorite painting subject of hers. She soon gathered further subjects from several trips to Ireland in the late 1920s and in the following decade to Guatemala, where her friend, Dr. Frank P. Corrigan of , had been appointed ambassador. As art critic, Kelly's stories on the Guelph Treasure in 1931 were credited with helping to draw record crowds to view those objects at the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART. A noted raconteur, she exhibited regularly in the MAY SHOW and at the WOMEN'S CITY CLUB. Never married, she was survived by a brother, John, and 3 sisters, Mary, Julia, and Maria.
Last Modified: 17 Jul 1997 03:31:39 PM- Related Article(s)