Leatherheads' set designer at home in studio and at movie-making
Lynch considers her paintings an adventure

The Greenville News City People
Published: Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - 2:00 am

Kelly Lynch painted 96 sets for the movie "Leatherheads," which was filmed in the Upstate and in various North Carolina towns. OWEN RILEY JR. / Staff

When Kelly Lynch sold her first oil painting, three weeks after she opened her art studio/gallery at Art Crossing, she took a chance on killing the $700 sale.

"I called her a couple of days later and said, 'are you sure you want to buy this?" Lynch recalls.

Unable to persuade the customer to change her mind, the 25-year-old Lynch took a new step in an art career that began at age 9: She was a art salesman as well as an artist.

Eighteen months later, Lynch remains far more comfortable as an artist than as a salesman. In the cozy one-room confines of her studio near the Main Street Bridge, she has also learned to accept the reality that her style -- which often includes dark moods and dejected faces -- isn't for everyone.

Until she did, the occasional 10-second visitor was cause for despair.

"When someone would come in, take one look at my work and immediately leave, it used to hurt my feelings," Lynch says. "One lady asked me if I had been locked in a closet as a child."

Such are the trials of a young artist whose expressions often wear a three-dimensional look, and frequently rest on canvas 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide.

The size of the work is a limitation to customers who lack prominent display outlets in their homes, and the bold 3-D aspect seems to demand even more space.

But to professionals in the movie industry, Lynch's fearless expressions are ideal. Lynch painted 96 sets for the movie "Leatherheads," which was filmed in the Upstate and in various North Carolina towns and is scheduled to be released in April. She also painted sets for another upcoming movie, "The Great Debaters," which was released by MGM in late December. She has agreed to paint the backgrounds for another upcoming movie, "Pink Panther II," this summer. That venture will take her to Boston on a regular basis.

Lynch's movie career began unexpectedly about a year ago, when a producer and director from the "Leatherheads" crew walked into the small gallery and studied her work for two hours.

"I think they liked the fact that I'm comfortable painting big," Lynch says. "And my background in welding helped."

As a result of that visit, Lynch has made dozens of trips to Charlotte and other areas of North Carolina in the past year, painting sets that make up the background in the "Leatherheads" and "The Great Debaters" movies.

Lynch's painting for the movie sets involves a variety of surfaces -- wood, metal, fiberglass, plastic foam -- sometimes from 30 feet in the air.

"It's been a really neat experience. I've picked up so many tricks I can use in my art studio," says Lynch. "And I get to keep all the leftover supplies. I've got about 130 gallons of paint out of the deal."

In addition to a salary for each movie-making venture, Lynch is paid travel expenses, which enable her to continue to work her two jobs in Greenville -- as an artist and in the evening as a bartender at the Corner Pocket.

Lynch, a history buff who holds a University of South Carolina degree in anthropology as well as an art degree from the College of Charleston, considers her paintings an adventure. She refers to some as works "that happened" while she was at the canvas.

Often, her time at the canvas is therapy.

"It helps me release emotions, whether they're happy or not," says Lynch, a St. Joseph's High graduate whose works frequently involve martyred saints of the dark ages. "To me, painting feels natural. Sometimes, I wish that something like accounting felt natural."

Lynch's talent was spotted by her second-grade teacher at Brook Glenn Elementary School, Ruby Giles, who recommended classes at the Fine Arts Center. Lynch was a regular at the Fine Arts Center until she attended USC.

In the spring of 2006, Lynch was planning to attend law school when she learned of the plans for Art Crossing Studios, a 14-gallery complex at River Street between the High Cotton restaurant and the Hampton Inn hotel. She plans to continue painting indefinitely, but isn't sure about anything else.

"I know I want more education. It might be an art graduate program," says Lynch. "I love the art, but I love technical learning, too."