Kelly Sullivan (painter)

Kelly Sullivan (born April 30, 1964) is an American painter known for her collaborative paintings called "FingerSmears".[1][2] Sullivan combines finger smears and signatures of hundreds of people on one canvas to commemorate events around the country.[3] Sullivan estimates over 100,000 people across the United States have made FingerSmears, including The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen[1][2] and many others have contributed to Sullivan’s work. Sullivan's work with FingerSmears has raised over $150,000 for charities.[4] Her FingerSmear entitled "The Hands for Hope" was auctioned off to benefit the September 11th Fund.[5] Sullivan has developed two spin-off projects from her FingerSmears called Mighty Fingers Facing Change (MFFC) and Paint.Team.[6][7] MFFC is a two-part experiential art project designed to engage and inspire girls around the world through a guided self portrait that expresses their individual goals and changes they would like to see in the world, as well as allowing them to participate in a collaborative FingerSmear called "Abundance". [6] Sullivan has taken MFFC to Guatemala, Uganda, Haiti, India, China, as well as various parts of the US.[6] Paint.Team was launched as a web-based tool, a "digital FingerSmear" app, that allows thousands to participate in one piece of art from anywhere in the world using their own computers or smartphones. Sullivan enlisted a team of software and web designers to make this app available.[7]

Sullivan was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, she was taught to paint at an early age by her maternal grandmother, Alice Foster. Her studio was in Driggs, Idaho,[3][4] but currently is in Lambertville, NJ.[8]