Artist Bio
Ariel showed a fondness for art at a young age, and was mentored by Boston-based artist Evelyn Berde. She built her first darkroom at age twelve, where she developed photos taken with her late father’s Nikon F. At eighteen, she moved to New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts. There she became enraptured with small camera, street-like photography. After two years focusing on this style, she moved back to her hometown of Boston to attend the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where she was mentored by some of the masters of the large-format camera and was given the opportunity to work with the famous Polaroid 20×24 camera. She graduated with her BFA in 2010. She also studied advanced alternative photographic processes in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Savannah, Georgia. While Ariel’s formal education was in photography, she found that combining other traditional media truly elevated her work.
In 2019, Ariel was invited to be an artist in residence at the Fish Factory Creative Centre of Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland. She has exhibited her art all over the U.S., as well as in Mexico and Japan. Her work can be found in public and private collections throughout the world.
Ariel lives and works in Watertown, Massachusetts. She spends her days creating in her studio and traveling throughout the Northeast exhibiting and selling her art.
Main Subject
Landscapes, Florals, Still Life
Materials and Techniques
Ariel Kessler is an artist who works in a range of media including painting, collage, printmaking, and ceramics.
Ariel’s work uses lively, colorful imagery to create a whimsical world. Combining traditional art media with an emphasis on color and texture, she explores themes of memory and storytelling, home, nature, and isolation.
