KELLY NESBITT

Design, Consulting, Artistry

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ARTIST BIO

Kelly Nesbitt is a multidisciplinary performance artist whose creations are rooted in movement-based theater, performance art, and somatic clown psychology. Nesbitt’s work transcends disciplinary boundaries, offering poignant reflections on contemporary America. Audiences have described Nesbitt’s live performances, characters, and films as transcendentally hilarious, inexplicably profound, and profoundly sincere.

Since 1999, Nesbitt has been awarded grants for creating solo and interdisciplinary ensemble performances, touring internationally, and co-producing numerous community art events in unconventional venues such as fringe festivals, black box theaters, speakeasies, and even dumpsters. In 2005, Nesbitt was selected to participate and perform at the European Andorra International Festival of All Women Clowns. Most recently, in 2023, Nesbitt received a competitive grant from Oregon’s Regional Arts and Culture Council for teacher training.

Aesthetically, Nesbitt’s performances integrate clown/drag, makeshift recycled props, and lowbrow intermedia techniques. Their films experiment with layered imagery and soundscapes, from poetic field recordings to audio mash-ups and distortions. Nesbitt embodies endearing characters, employs self-referential humor, and explores the complexity of human nature through the duality of masks. Their work juxtaposes pratfalls with seriousness, absurdities with sincerity, and pathos with surreal humor, creating atmospheres of energetic bathos and moments of quiet intimacy.

Nesbitt credits influential teachers such as Giovanni Fusetti and Laurie Carlos, and their training at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater, Pig Iron Theater Company, and Celebration Barn Theater, alongside engagement with DIY communities.

In addition to their artistic career, Kelly Nesbitt is an Occupational Therapist with 25 years of clinical experience (see Linkedin profile), possessing extensive expertise and a deep passion for patient-centered care. Their career spans roles in top-tier institutions across all continuums of care. Nesbitt is particularly passionate about geriatric care, elder theater/play, and integrating new health technologies to promote positive health outcomes.

What’s New?

RE-RELEASE of my film

PENNY - The Conduit

My film PENNY was just re-released (November 2023) by Reticular Films which is an audiovisual research, creation, and dissemination platform founded by Dama David and Jada Sirkin in Argentina. This film originally selected and debuted at the RISK / REWARD festival 2021.

PENNY is a film that I created during the intense first year of covid. It's about mourning the recent loss of my father, burnout from working in the hospital, and finding solace through the use of play - as exemplified by the character Penny’s awkward and yet earnest commitment to meditation, nature worship, and conversations with a radically different kind of deity. Penny is a conduit who expresses our collective grief and despair, yet exemplifies the unquenchable hope that lies deeper in the human heart. Death, mourning, and healing are overt themes of this piece.

Film by Kelly Nesbitt

Music by Mad Composer Lab

Running Time 20 minutes

Recommended viewing: Full Screen size + Turn Closed Captions ON