Though she graduated from UNC in 2001, Kelly Popoff’s art will be returning to campus this Nov. 5 to Dec. 10 in her show entitled “At Home with Our Histories” at the John and June Allcott Gallery.
Popoff is an alumna of the master’s program in UNC’s art department and now lives in Massachusetts where she continues to address social concerns with her art.
“What I really love about bringing alumni in is you see they're as good as any other artist,” said Elin O’Hara Slavick, curator of the Allcott gallery. “She really has a great career. She's a really serious painter and she's really stuck with her practice.”
Slavick — who is also a professor at UNC and has served as the director of graduate studies in the art department — said she has known many graduate students during her 26 years at the university, but Popoff is one she kept up with.
“The thing about her work is it really slows you down, because it's very hand done and you can tell it took time and there's lots of textures and you can see the brushstrokes,” Slavick said. “You want to go up to look at the formal qualities of the work but it also does have this nostalgic or old Americana quality to it.”
Popoff said her time at UNC surrounded her with peers that engaged in dialogue, critique and work of their own that has pushed her work to new levels.
“I’m trying to make a visual connection to both my personal history and our nation’s history to try to bring to light what is in the past to make sense of what is happening today,” Popoff said.
Popoff sometimes forms this connection by taking inspiration from images of things such as doll collections, gun collections, antique furniture, toys and yearbooks. Other times, she lets her subconscious do the work, especially when she paints.
“A lot of times I'll make images that I don't really understand where they're coming from or what they mean,” Popoff said. “But as time goes by, I understand more about what they are and I feel like in a way my subconscious is ahead of my brain.”
