​

My Name is Keli Black, I was born In Phoenix Arizona In 1973. I grew up in the greater white mountain area. As a child and still today I am a free spirit and posses the greatest respect and love for nature and all it entails, as nature plays no favorites and if you listen with your heart she always has much to say.  At the age of five I started drawing mainly wildlife on occasion domestic farm animals as well, ha ha! I remember arguing with my mother that in fact horses did have six legs because how on earth would the middle stay up if they did not?  Ah, Good times, great memories! I sold my first Native design piece when I was ten for 200 dollars. As life continued on my art slowly faded to a halt. At the age of fifteen my family moved to Washington state and I left home at that time, life has handed me a good deal of heartache and yet at the same time invaluable lessons  I could and would have never learned otherwise. Today  I am the mother to five beautiful and wonderfully talented children my oldest will be 33 this year.  In 2010 I lost my second oldest son in an auto accident, this changed everything about me and how I viewed the world entirely. Somehow all the small things just faded away and were no longer worth a second glance, I saw people far deeper than I could have ever imagined. My heart would forever have a missing link and empty space.  It Changed my soul to the core. I spent a great deal of time in the mountains after that hiking exploring camping and wondering aimlessly to be honest, during many of those trips I found skulls of all different kinds and I would bring them home, One day I just decided I wanted to do something unique and special with them so that they would be a beautiful addition to my already well established "Man cave". From there friends took great notice and started sharing them with others,  I thought gosh, wouldn't it be a wonderful healing process to share my art with the world and in that moment sparked a fire and a passion.  To me art is a silent expression of the hurricane within, the solitude the sorrow the joy the happiness, art to me is one of the best and most productive therapies you can never buy. I dont usually have a plan for each project, a few fleeting ideas and thoughts, yet usually I just go with what comes to me at that very moment.  Though my story may not be the cheeriest of cheery, it is simply who I am,  It is what makes ME. The light behind my inspiration to share my art with you!