About

Kelly Knaga (she /her) is a multidisciplinary artist and designer that makes paintings, illustrations, animations, textiles, public art installations, exhibitions, books, gardens, and more. She is living and working on a beautiful piece of land just outside of Chicago where she designs fun projects for her clients by day while renovating a house, building her dream vegetable and chasing her 2 beautiful humans around on nights and weekends.

Knaga’s work is about celebrating the intersection of nature and art, and exploring the complicated human relationships to Mother Nature and the land. Her work is also influenced by her childhood experiences and the adventures she had growing up on her grandparents’ farm as well as living on the west coast. Her works investigate flora, landscapes, and our relationship with the environment by layering shape, image, color, and story. The use of color exploits historical and sometimes fictional references through anthropological studies, mapmaking, and storytelling.

Knaga is also a design educator and co-founder of Art and Action Community Lab. Knaga’s work can be found in private collections, galleries, public art spaces, magazines, department stores, and on physical and digital products.

Always up for collaboration projects and meeting new people, please drop her a line and say hello at kel.knaga@gmail.com

Some of Knaga’s clients, partners and collaborators include Live Nation, Lollapalooza, Target, Chicago Bulls, Adobe, Property Brothers, Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, Twee, City of Chicago, Design Museum of Chicago, Chicago DCASE, Rae Wellness, Lucy and Yak, Hue Division, Design Museum of Chicago, Evermade, HGTV, Pressed Juicery, Unwind Studio, Lau Clothing, Chunky, Ekobo, One Design, Uniek, Rimowa, Frankie Magazine, Les Filles, Chairish, The Jaunt, Studio South, USA Network, Daily Rounds, Lula Magazine, Tattly, Society6, Zespri, Kate and Laurel, All Modern, HomeGoods, Pink Sky Studios, Paint Gary, Arts and Action Lab, Sweet Reason, Cogrid, Long Walks, 21 Wallpaper, Zig Zag Zurich, AIGA Chicago, Kotn, Found App, and more.

Select Interviews
The American Scholar
Evermade
Shine Culture with Rae Wellness
Origin Magazine, Summer 2021 (print version)
Tomorrow
TheCorner.com
Adobe