Kellie Hames’ new body of work, “Oh, won’t you be my neighbor?”, debuts in The Printshop at Spudnik Press. Hames explores isolation and connectivity in the Midwest suburbs.

“I find it unusual that, despite the close proximity there is a distance between neighbors in these communities, especially among young individuals. I attribute this to modern advances, where technology allows us to communicate with those we choose and ignore others, and where a wider social connection corresponds directly to a more isolated personal connection.”

Born and raised in Minnesota, Kellie Hames attained her BFA in printmaking from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2010. Pursuing her love for lithography, Hames applied and was accepted to the world-renowned Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2011.  After successfully completing the second year apprenticeship Hames was awarded a Master Printer certificate from Tamarind Institute and to this day holds the record for the most editions pulled by a second year apprentice printer.

Her work has been exhibited nationally, most notably at the Plains Art Museum (Fargo, ND), The North Dakota Museum of Art (Grand Forks, ND) and the University of the Arts Gallery (Philadelphia, PA), among others. Hames is currently studying at Northern Illinois University and residing in DeKalb, Illinois.