Keely O'Brien

is an interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, BC.

Her art practice incorporates intricately handmade objects with immersive, innovative theatre creation. Devoted to a thoroughly handmade, DIY process, Keely’s work includes puppetry in miniature and enormous scales, immersive installations, imaginative ephemera, and interactive experiences. As a community engaged arts educator Keely creates and facilitates participatory and collaborative artwork with community members and organizations. Deeply site-responsive and engaged with questions of place, home, and belonging, Keely's work aims to celebrate the potential for creativity and community in the place and people around her.

She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Simon Fraser University.

Keely's Projects Elsewhere

       Branscombe House Artist Residency

January - December 2018

Keely O'Brien was the 2018 Artist-in-Residence at Branscombe House in historic Steveston, BC. Through a series of public workshop, events, and collaborative projects, the residency explored the experience of finding, making, and then losing a home and community.

                    Dream Home

November 2018

Dream Home is a site-specific audiowalk which explores the loss, longing, and hope of leaving behind a home. Audience members listening to MP3 players are guided one at a time through the Branscombe House and yard, pausing to hear memories unfold in each room.

                  You Are Here

June 2018

You Are Here is a community art show about place, home and belonging. Through personal map making, mixed media, assemblage and collage, community members worked together to explore how we create and define home and community.

                    Walking Atlas

June 2018

Walking Atlas is an interactive installation of handmade maps, each one representing a different perspective of the same local landscape. These maps  document the process of arrival in a new home and neighbourhood, using personal cartography to capture fleeting and often overlooked details of Steveston BC.

                 Memory Exchange

September 2017

Memory Exchange is a community art project intending to spark fleeting, personal connections between people who will never meet. An ephemeral flock of envelopes house memories gathered from anonymous community members in this interactive pop-up installation.