Native Santa Fean depicted magic of land, its people through her art
Susan Harrison Kelly, a Santa Fe native whose magic-realism paintings strove to capture the mysteries of Northern New Mexico’s landscapes, people and structures, died Sept. 8 of natural causes, a family member said. She was 79. Once asked in a newspaper interview why she enjoyed painting the small villages that dotted the state, Kelly replied: “I like to paint them because I want them to stay there.”
An old-time Santa Fean who seemed to know everyone in town, Susan Harrison was born Feb. 23, 1939, to Evelyn and Will Harrison. Evelyn was a visual artist while Will was a longtime journalist who worked as editor of The New Mexican in the 1940s.
Her father would often bring newsprint end rolls home for his daughter to draw on, an action that encouraged her creative bent.
“She had this artistic nature that touched every aspect of her life,” Rachel Kelly said of her mother.
Susan Harrison attended Santa Fe High, where she studied art under Jozef Bakos of Los Cinco Pintores fame. A longtime member of the John Sloan Drawing Group, she also studied art at Colorado Women’s College and the University of New Mexico.
Over time, she earned a reputation for painting the trails, animals and villages in and around Las Vegas, N.M., Galisteo and Chimayó.
“When I go into the rural landscape I often think about the faith it took for Spanish settlers and their descendants to move to a place with little water and build their homes,” she said in a 1994 interview with The New Mexican.
In 1960 she married attorney William Booker Kelly in Santa Fe. They remained married until his death late in 2004.
Besides taking part in a number of Santa Fe gallery exhibitions, she paid homage to the legacy of the Kelly family she married into — William Booker Kelly’s grandfather co-founded the Gross Kelly mercantile in Santa Fe in the early 1900s — with a gala exhibition at St. John’s College’s art gallery in 2010.
She also pursued a career as a professional folk and bluegrass singer, performing with singer Carol Gapa and a local band known as The Greater Abeyta Street Players, Rachel Kelly said.
“There was always music in the house,” she added. “She would practice singing in the house when we took naps, which was fun.”
Though she was raised Episcopalian, Susan Harrison Kelly converted to Catholicism, her husband’s faith. Their ties to the Santa Fe community led the couple to support a variety of local nonprofits and arts groups. They were founding members of St. Elizabeth Shelter and Susan Harrison Kelly served on the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico and the Museum of International Folk Art.
“Susan was the essence of old Santa Fe, a place that was less formal and less divided than the city we live in today,” said friend, Santa Fe author and historian Carmella Padilla. “She was creative, curious, generous and open to every person and experience that came her way. Santa Fe has one less bright light with her loss.”
Susan Harrison Kelly is survived by her children, Rachel, Patrick and Ana Kelly, as well as numerous grandchildren. The family plans to celebrate her life with a memorial service during the holiday season, Rachel Kelly said.