Kelsey Phillips (@keymintt)

Hello, I'm Kelsey (aka "keymintt")! I received my BFA in Drawing and Painting in May 2022 and currently work in and around Phoenix, AZ as an art educator and freelance illustrator.

I am a fifth-generation Arizonan artist who uses natural imagery and symbolism alongside aspects of the uncanny to explore what it means to be human, nonhuman, both, or neither. In my traditional work, I approach my subjects with a naturalist intent; in placing them in reality or almost-reality, I render the fictional as something tangible and confront the borders of fiction and reality. The familiar Sonoran Desert is a frequent backdrop for my work.

Alongside the more traditional pen, oil paint, and acrylic paint, digital media is also a part of my creative process. My digital work is often character-focused and illustrative, but still maintains my ethos around monstrosity. Instead of realism, I approach human and nonhuman subjects with a semi realistic but energetic style to convey mundane stories in which humans and monsters are one in the same.

My work has been exhibited at The Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix, Art One Gallery in Scottsdale, City of Surprise Arizona’s City Hall Gallery, and Gallery Nucleus in Los Angeles among others. Freelance clients have included Handelabra Games (in collaboration with Green Ronin Publishing), Evil Hat Productions and Chaosium Inc..