About

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Chris Donnelly was born in Ann Arbor Michigan where from an early age was influenced by the life and surroundings of the area, the people, the music, family, the nature as well as the changing times of the late 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. From an early age, liking to make things but without much direction, he began teaching himself through trial and error to carve fish out of wood which eventually led to carving the human figures that you see here. Using mostly hand tools such as saws, gouges, chisels, adze, knives and carving obsessively at times he has carved hundreds of pieces. Donnelly says “ wood carving is about taking something away and leaving what you want to see “ and “I’m not just trying to make a human looking figure, if I can bring a piece of wood to life in even the simplest way, then I feel it’s a success.”

Chris Donnelly now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

EXHIBITIONS

  • Ann Arbor Original Street Art Fair - Ann Arbor, MI (1995-1999)

  • Narratives in wood, Virginia Breier Gallery - San Francisco, CA (1998)

  • Bruce Museum of Art: Outdoor Arts Festival - Greenwich, CT (1999)

  • Winter Park Art Fair - Winter Park, FL (2000)

  • Palmer Museum of Art PSU: Self Taught Artists, Joseph &

  • Janet Shein Collection - State College, PA (2006)

  • Re:collect 2009: Re:View Contemporary Gallery - Detroit, MI (2009)

  • Portland Looking Up, Solo Show: Nemo Design - Portland, OR (2009)

  • The Art of Baseball: 15th Annual Exhibition, George Krevsky Gallery - San Francisco, CA (2012)

  • Vintage Berkeley Wine Shop, Solo Show - Berkeley, CA (2012)

  • Sausalito Art Festival , Sausalito CA.  (2013)

  • La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles CA, “Canned Heat” group exhibition, (July 2019)

  • “Peopled” Works by Ben Belknap & Chris Donnelly. The Compound Gallery- Oakland CA. (2021)

PAST REPRESENTATION

. The Compound Gallery , Oakland California

  • Virginia Breier Gallery, San Francisco, California

  • Mark Milliken Gallery, New York, New York

  • Washington Street Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

  • Joseph D. and Janet  M. Shein, Philadelphia, PA

  • Ann and Steven Shure, Seattle, WA

  • Jerry Bolduan, Sebastapol, CA

  • Leonard Zucker, Portland, OR

  • Gretchen and Larry Jacobson, Kansas City, MO 

  • Carol Banker, Los Angeles, CA 

  • Richard H. Weiss , New York , NY

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

  • American Visionary Art Museum ,  Baltimore, MD