KEELY CONROY is an Art Therapist, visual artist, and singer-songwriter. She recently graduated from Naropa University with an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, concentrating in Transpersonal Art Therapy. Since graduating, she has returned to her home in Minnesota and is working for Conscious Healing Counseling. She holds a B.A. in Studio Art from St. Olaf College and served as an ArtistYear Americorps Resident Teaching Artist at Roaring Fork High School, where she also led community art programs through local nonprofits.
Keely’s creative work is rooted both in her own healing and in her inspiration from being a healer. She gains inspiration from simply listening and looking— both inwards and towards clients’ experiences. Her practice is in connection to tending to grief, feeling reverence for the land, and turning toward prayer. She experiences art making as a healing ritual and believes in the healing power of art and community.
Check out her EP of original songs titled, “And I Pray” here: https://open.spotify.com/album/2okVoB6Lb0rMk5DLlITgDd?si=lTJ6Pw1HRw2dgYDpsjxLlA
“My body of work is not separate from my inner work. I see my practice of observing and my practice of expressing as inextricably linked. While creatively expressing, my inquiry is bodily. I do not inquire to know, I inquire to sit with asking: to befriend asking. As I move, I allow my ideas and visions to freely arise. I listen to my body and rather than craving control, I surrender into discipline. I see my art as a form of prayer and communication. I practice confronting fear and facing darkness, while feeding wonder and self-trust. These practices have helped me find safety during times of great loss and pain. In response to my mother’s ALS diagnosis, her passing in 2021, and my own isolation during the covid-19 pandemic, my process of art-making has helped me practice returning to an expansive place of inner compassion. I’ve learned to respond to and process my grief through art. Art has provided me with a language that I believe our bodies intuitively understand.”