The work of Kelly Devitt featured by American Craft Council

Southwestern Community College (SWCC) Art Instructor Kelly Devitt was recently featured online in the Craft Around the Country section of the American Craft Council's website.

The article, Kelly Devitt's Clay Bodies Invite Touch, details Devitt's unique clay figures "depicting the strange and sometimes grotesque glory of the human body." Devitt explained how she used art to visually represent the internal strife she was experiencing in her own body.

"... I started thinking about how the body communicates without using language, and then, specifically, how skin releases information about us outside of our control," Devitt explained.

Devitt teaches ceramics, drawing, painting, art appreciation, and 3D design courses at SWCC. Her work, entitled Body, in many artistic formats including fiber, clay, photography, and digital media, was recently featured at the Polk County Heritage Gallery in Des Moines, alongside the work of seven other Iowa artists selected with Devitt as Iowa artist fellows by the Iowa Arts Council (see related article) in 2025.