Taming the Wild

The creative upholstered animals of Kelly Jelinek are now featured at The Flying Pig Gallery and Greenspace in Algoma.

As a child Kelly Jelinek spent most of her time with her nose in fairytale books. She was absolutely marveled how the impossible was made possible – animals talking, trees moving and the most mundane of objects becoming something magical and important. In her search to combine her artistic aesthetic and make real life more magical and extraordinary, Jelinek has found a way to take the traditional and commonplace and transform it into something exciting and strange.

It started with an antique chair problem. Her old chairs were becoming out of style, so she taught herself how to upholster furniture. She grew up in a family where hunting is a very popular past time, so she was used to seeing taxidermy mounts as a regular home decor. Fond of the tradition and nostalgia that taxidermy invokes, in college she sought out to combine the two interests and started making faux taxidermy mounts. Yes, life-size upholstered animals. No “dead animal parts” here, except for the antlers or horns, those are typically found at flea markets or thrift stores.

Jelinek graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from UW – Stevens Point, majoring in art with both two-dimensional and three-dimensional emphases.

The Flying Pig Gallery and Greenspace, open 10 am to 5 pm daily, is located at N6975 Highway 42, Algoma. For more information, call 920.487.9902 or email [email protected].