ability to work with different sizes and types
of fi sh without having to have them here
at the house. I love to hear the stories and
experiences that come with each mount.
Each piece is a type of memory conservation,
which is far better than a two-dimensional
photograph. We take it for granted that at
any time during tarpon season we can get
in the boat and go fi shing for these giant
sport fi sh. We forget that this experience is a
lifelong dream for many people, and some
have fl own here from all over the world. Their
experience is so important to them, and it
might not ever happen again. That fi sh on the
wall helps them remember what that day was
like, and how excited they were to do battle
with that big fi sh.”
Kelly has watched the taxidermy process,
and is appreciative of the skills it takes to
recreate each animal. Taxidermists have their
own little special tricks.
“The behind-the-scenes stuff is a little much
for the general reader,” she laughed. “What I
will say is that it is very delicate, very precise
work. For instance, the eyes of a fi sh or an
animal are very important. It is vital that you
get them right. If you get them done right,
everything else falls into place. If you don’t,
and the skin shrinks as it dries, it looks like
that animal has a shocked expression …
almost like a bad facelift. It is very interesting
to an artist like me.”
62 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • September/October • 2020
While a majority of Kelly’s art is framed
on canvas, some of her most popular work
is done on fi berglass tarpon mounts and
turtle shells. It is virtually impossible to tell
they aren’t real, and it honors the animal at
the same time. Many of her tarpon mounts,
painted with all types of themes and designs,
were auction items at a fundraiser The Island
School used to call The Tarpon Ball. Those
tarpon hang in many homes around the
Boca Grande area, and one that was won by
Howard and Emily Wise hangs in their Boca
Grande grocery store, Hudson’s.
Kelly’s house is also a place of natural
wonders, as she has been collecting unique
gifts from Mother Earth since she was a child.
Alligator scutes, octopus bone carvings, bird
nests, arrowheads, random bones, fossils,
even interesting dead bugs have found a
place in her home.
“It’s a lot like shelling,” she said. “When you
walk the beach and you pick up a shell, that
is the home of an animal that is now dead. I
love shells, too, but there’s something about
all of my collection of things that speaks to
me … I can’t put my fi nger on it, but I feel like
it’s genetic to appreciate them. When you
walk into my relatives’ homes, they have the
same types of things.
“I have always been interested in the
natural world, and how things are put
together; it’s something that a human can’t
do. Only a spiritual entity can do that, and