Kelly Dietrick

Kelly Dietrick is a practicing artist, curator, and educator with a teaching background concentrated in design foundations, color theory, and technology integration. She holds a BFA in Art with a minor in Philosophy from Kent State University, an MFA in Studio Art from Savannah College of Art and Design, and a post-graduate certificate in Instructional Technology. She previously taught in the School of Art at Kent State University, where she also served as the Assistant Foundations Coordinator from 2015-2016 before joining the College of Architecture and Environmental Design faculty in 2022 where she continues to teach part-time. In 2017 Kelly founded a brick-and-mortar contemporary art space, Troppus Projects, which she independently ran and programmed for seven years. It began as a small experimental project, but solidified curation as a critical component of her practice and continues to facilitate meaningful collaborations with fellow regional, national, and international artists. Conceptually and pragmatically driven by an interest in the convergence of “what happens” and “what happens by design”, Kelly firmly believes that the latter stands to improve and uncomplicate our world, while concurrently yielding more complex and impactful experiences in our built environment.

Kelly currently resides in Kent, Ohio where she enjoys tending to her small kitchen garden, working in her makeshift backyard studio, and choosing walking as her preferred mode of local transportation.