Painting with purpose: meet ocean artivist, Kelley Whitley
This month, we're introducing Kelley Whitley, an educator, scuba diver, and ocean artivist who paints marine species in the hope of bringing the underwater world to the surface and encouraging others to help protect it.
With more than 1,500 dives over the past decade, Kelley has observed firsthand the decline in our reef ecosystems. “I have noticed a gradual decline over a short time: less diversity, fewer fish, less colour, more algae. Searching through archived photos of the same destination only a few years apart, it is very obvious that coral reefs are slipping away,” Kelley says.
Finding inspiration through Project Seahorse and #IconicFishes
Kelley found a creative outlet for her concern through the 100 Day Project, a global challenge to create something every day for 100 days. She set herself an ambitious goal: to paint a different reef fish each day. And that’s where our #IconicFishes entered the picture.
“At about day 30, I was losing steam,” she recalls. “I saw a social media post on Project Seahorse’s channel and was immediately rejuvenated. I pivoted to syngnathids. I painted a set of 10 seahorses and a set of 10 other syngnathids, predominantly pipefish.”
That spark helped Kelley continue her challenge while bringing greater attention to some of the ocean’s most unusual and overlooked fishes.
Where science meets art
While Kelley takes creative liberty in her coral backgrounds and elements like contrast, colour, and texture, correctly identifying species remains her top priority. As a college chemistry educator, scientific accuracy is central to her art.
“When I paint, I try to enhance the personality without sacrificing accuracy, If I don’t know what it is, I won’t share it on social media. Getting it right is too important to me,” she says.
Mushroom Coral Pipefish
Among all the paintings Kelley has completed in her challenge until now, her painting of the mushroom coral pipefish is her favourite. Unlike in her usual style, in which she paints the sea creature in sharp detail and leaves the background blurry, Kelley decided to intricately paint the mushroom coral polyps, leaving the pipefish to the viewer’s imagination.
“It was fun to turn my usual process inside out. And it turned out great!”
Paying her art forward
What we love about Kelley’s work is the way she brings together art, ocean advocacy, and generosity. As an ocean artivist, Kelley uses her paintings as collateral in a ‘pay it forward’ scheme to help raise awareness of ocean conservation issues. She gives the paintings to strangers, often while travelling on dive trips, and asks for nothing in return.
“I bundle each painting with information about simple yet powerful acts that ordinary people can do to help save coral reefs,” Kelley explains. “My only request is that, if they like the gift, they should do just a little bit more to support ocean conservation.”
Kelley now hopes to expand the impact of these individual gifts by partnering with conservation organizations, reef restoration projects, marine research groups, and community-based conservation programs. To support her and explore more of her work, you can view her online gallery at Oceanartivist.com.
We are grateful to Kelley for featuring our #IconicFishes in her art and helping to tell their stories. We hope her story inspires you to take action in your unique way, because making a difference can begin with something as simple as creating art.