Kelly Izdihar Crosby was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. At an early age, she displayed a high interest in the arts, especially in painting and drawing. In junior high school, she was encouraged to enter the Talented in the Visual Arts program, a state funded program geared to enhance the talents of creative students in the fine arts.
While attending high school, she enhanced her skills as a fine artist and served as president and secretary to the non-profit arts group, Pieces of Power. As a member of this group, she participated in art shows and mural projects for such organizations and businesses as the Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Covenant House and Pizza Hut. During this time, she also ran her own greeting card business.
She continued to study art at the University of New Orleans. She obtained her bachelors degree in Fine Arts in 2002. Feeling a need to learn more about the business side of the art world and the non-profit art sector, she returned to the University of New Orleans to study Arts Administration, which she completed in 2007.
While pursuing her degree, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. She and her family were forced to relocate to the state of Georgia. While living in Georgia, she entered into the world of crafts by creating hand-made decorative boxes and hand-painted glass art. With a love for Arabic calligraphy and design, she immediately began to explore the genre and incorporated into her works. With modern, vibrant colorful schemes and traditional Arabic calligraphy, Kelly was able to give an ancient form of art new vitality and an unexpected modern twist.
She paints in a variety of styles and subject matters but the ones that interest her the most are landscapes, abstraction, still life studies, and floral patterns. She often incorporates flat patterns, unconventional colors and repetition to create art that’s emotional, bold and evocative.
She has displayed her artwork in various art shows and conferences throughout New Orleans and in places such as Texas, Georgia, California, Ohio and Canada. Between 2008 and 2011, while living overseas in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, she displayed her work with DUCTAC (Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre) and the Bastakiya Arts Festival.
Her work is featured in private collections in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. She moderated an online group of international Muslim artists called the Islamic Artists Society from 2005-2011. She is a member of IMAN, the International Muslima Artist Network. She is also a writer and editorial assistant for Azizah Magazine.
