A private exhibition in Monmouth last month demonstrated some deeply heartfelt and meaningful works by local artist Kelly Davies.

The recent exhibition, where she demonstrated some deeply personal works, included a selection of abstract expressive art. The theme of much of her work was “therapy”, and that the journey was the most important part of the process, with the works themselves being the final product.

Much of the pieces express a status of transition through life, from a childhood phase, through an adolescence phase, and a final adulthood phase; demonstrating that her art is not just a process, but reminiscent of a living organism that grows and builds on its predecessors.

She said: “My journey as an artist started as a little girl, I was always creating. A vivid memory of mine was drawing on the living room floor, surrounded by Christmas presents, my dad showing me how to mix colour and tone in a directional way to show form.

‘‘I must have been five or six and that memory has stayed with me, inspiring me to be a teacher.

“Art allows me to make sense of my feelings and the surrounding world. Watching my brother lose his battle with cancer in the past year, has been the most painful year of my life. It’s like playing a game of snakes and ladders but only ever getting snakes. The feeling of helplessness is unbearable! Painting was my outlet, allowing me to give a tangible outcome to my feelings, the hope, the heartache, the pain, the helplessness, the anger and frustration, the heaviness and suffocation.

“I believe art is therapy. The movement and expressive gestures in my artwork, capture purpose and feeling. Flowing, sometimes measured marks, other times dramatic and raw.

‘‘The process and progress of the piece is the powerful journey, the outcome a by-product of my experience.

“I see my art in phases as it metamorphosis into an outcome. Firstly, the chaos; the raw, the naive, the loose, the free, the child playing. Then follows the exploration of space, shapes, colour, tone and textures, more intentional marks, reflecting and analysing, making sense of one’s feelings. Finally, there exists clarity of refinement, sensitivity, and subtlety.”

A written comment likened the style to jazz, with its “discretion and fragmentation”.

The piece added: “The movement in her structures are so reflective of the energy she puts into her work. Each piece has such a personality—some calmer, some stormier; others more upbeat, and others more down trodden.”