Valley resident to show art at Bellagio lounge

Work to be exhibited March 27 in Caramel

special to viewArtist Shawna Kennelly calls this painting "All That Jazz." Advertisement

Art comes pretty easily for Shawna Kennelly.

The Chicago native and current resident of northwest Las Vegas has bounced around a bit, from life as a college softball player to a professional football player to her present gig as an emergency medical technician at St. Rose Hospital's Siena campus in Henderson in the pediatric emergency room.

But no matter where her career takes her, creativity has been a constant.

"I always played around with art, in high school and when I was in junior college," said Kennelly, who went to Valley High School for one year before her family moved to Laughlin. "But honestly, it was always hard to imagine it was something I could do to make a living. Back then, it was just a cool class I could take. But I got a lot of response right from the beginning."

That response included two sold-out solo shows at UNLV's Grant Hall Gallery in 2005, which surprised Kennelly.

"I was painting right up to the show, hanging a soaking wet piece 30 minutes before it opened," she said. "And I was told I'm the only one to sell out a solo show at that gallery, which is amazing. I'm very lucky and blessed. I was just painting up a storm, and then at the end, people are writing me checks and buying pieces."

Kennelly's next show is set for the Strip. She'll have an exhibit of paintings and mixed media works on display at the Caramel lounge in Bellagio at 7 p.m. on March 27.

It's more unexpected exposure for an artist whose background offers a unique perspective.

After finishing high school, Kennelly accepted a softball scholarship to Dixie State Junior College in Utah, but a knee injury quickly ended that opportunity. She eventually returned to Las Vegas and UNLV, where she devoted her time to art studies, painting and sculpture.

Then she saw a Sports Illustrated article about the rise of women's pro football and was inspired to give it a shot. She took a road trip to try out, ended up getting drafted and left school two semesters short of a bachelor's degree to play football in Southern California and Indianapolis.

After three years as a professional athlete in a burgeoning sport, Kennelly decided she'd had enough and wanted to finish college and get back to art. But the women's football league had expanded to Nevada, and she ended up playing quarterback for one more season with the local Las Vegas Showgirlz team.

"After getting crushed more times in the first game than I did in my whole football career, I decided to let it go," she joked.

So, she completed her art degree and fell into the typical life of an aspiring artist with a day job, spending three days at the hospital and the rest of her time painting.

One of the many supporters of her art is Jeff Hall, one of her co-workers at St. Rose Siena.

"I met her and heard her talking about maybe getting her MFA, and I have a degree in drama, so we've talked a lot about the differences in creativity from being a painter to a writer and so on," Hall said. "People who are artists, you know, when there's something that's always on your mind, you're always ready to go. I think when she was (playing sports) the only thing that kept her from painting was time. It was always sitting on brew, and when it was time to take it out, she was ready to do it without any issues whatsoever. She's built to be an artist."

Kennelly thinks her background has helped her develop an artistic identity.

"Because I've had so many different outlets to express myself over the years, including sports, I think it's made me a little wiser to the world and how people see things," Kennelly said. "The world is so subjective. I could paint a box and say it's a car, and you can't tell me it's not. It can be anything to anybody who's looking at it."

Kennelly, who names Picasso as a strong influence in her painting style, has found some success and could be on the verge of more, with her Bellagio exhibit on the horizon. But it's still hard for her to imagine life as a full-time artist.

"I would love that, but it's still hard for me to believe you can get paid to do what you love," she said.

The show at Caramel is free. For more information, visit www.shawnasart.com.