James Edward Kelsey was born on November 15, 1964, in
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, and moved to
Renton, Washington, in 1965, where he spent his childhood until age 13. In 1977 his father was hired by Bell Helicopter and moved his family to
Tehran,
Iran. James was first exposed to the concept of
abstract art while living in the Middle East and experiencing the abstract nature of
Islamic art. His family left Iran in 1979 due to the onset of the
Iranian revolution. Kelsey discovered his love of creating art in junior high school and experimented with photography, wood shop, ceramics, and a short course in metal casting. When he was in high school, his father died, and he dropped out of school halfway through 10th grade. He immediately attained his G.E.D. and married at age 17, a marriage which lasted six years. At age 18, he became a firefighter in the
United States Air Force and was stationed in Aviano,
Italy. While living there, he explored much of the art and architecture of Northern Italy, Venice, and Pisa. This is also the first time he met men and women working as full-time artists both as painters and sculptors. In 1987, he was honorably discharged from the Air Force. Instead of producing art, he enrolled at
Big Bend Community College in
Moses Lake, Washington to pursue his love of flying. He was awarded a commercial pilot license and continued on to
Eastern Washington University, from which he graduated with honors and a degree in Business and Interpersonal Communication. After College, Kelsey moved back to
Seattle, Washington with his partner and soon-to-be wife, Misty Devin, whom he had met in college. In 1996 they moved to
Everett, Washington Devins' job. While there, Kelsey wrote his yet-unpublished novel,
The Last Icon. In 1998 they moved again, to
Bremerton, Washington. Kelsey decided to finally ignore much of the advice he had heard throughout his life and pursue his love of art with the goal of making it a career. He enrolled in the welding program at
Olympic College. By the end of the two-year program, he had created four significant sculptures including
And He Offered the Moon To the Sky, his first piece of public art, which can currently be seen on the Olympic College campus. While still taking classes, he secured a job with a local metal fabrication company as their sole welder and honed his skills while continuing his classes. Two years later, he quit his welding job to work for three years for a local stone sculptor, Will Robinson. Kelsey served as the fabricator for Robinson's bases and fountain basins, as well as learning stone working skills. This was also Kelsey's introduction to the business side of the art world as he accompanied Robinson to his galleries and installed sculptures in clients' homes. In 2002, Kelsey built his own studio on his property in
Port Orchard, Washington. In 2007, Kelsey divorced from Misty Devin, his wife of 15 years. During the
2008 financial crisis, he struggled to maintain his home and art studio, but as the
Great Recession continued in 2012 he was forced to sell before an imminent foreclosure as part of the
2010 United States foreclosure crisis. In November 2012 Kelsey signed a contract with the mint company I.P. Callisons and traded three of his sculptures,
Helios,
Industrial Heart, and
Eye of the Beholder, II, for one of their 7,000 square foot facilities in
Centralia, Washington. In 2013 Kelsey was commissioned by the
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in
Seattle, Washington to create
Touching the Intangible and
Tuareg Sun. ==Major works==