Fellow Traveler & Seeker Exploring Curiosity & Creativity Through The Depths.
Artist Biography: Carly Palmer is an artist and writer working in the Chicago area. She primarily works in the artistic mediums of hand-cut paper collage and acrylic hard-edge geometric abstract paintings. She has exhibited in several local galleries and community spaces in the Greater Chicago Area as part of both group and solo shows. As a library supporter and avid reader herself, local libraries are one of her favorite places to share her art with others. She is a Resident Artist and School of Art Outreach Instructor at Water Street Studios in Batavia. She is a 2021-2023 Jungian Studies Program Cohort Graduate from C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. Participants studied the fundamentals of Jungian theory grounded in experiential learning. She has presented several of her exploratory papers, all of which have featured her own artwork, at the London Arts-Based Research Centre’s online conferences. Her paper collage work was selected to be the cover art for the Indelible Literary Arts Journal’s Transdisciplinary December 2024 issue and for the book The Sacred & Divine Arts. Time And Time Again, her first book published in 2024, showcases her paper collages paired with reflective writings in response to each. All of the collages in this book contain images of various types of clocks and references to time in a literal or metaphorical sense. Often, she personifies objects to conjure and convey psychological ideas through her art. She writes a bimonthly newsletter called Artful Reflections which shares her personal essays about the often-unseen parts and lived experience of being a creative alongside studio updates. In June 2025, she was featured as Kane County Magazine’s Artist of the Month. Her most personally meaningful work as an artist and writer weaves together elements of depth psychology, surrealism, and symbolism. This is the creative trinity where both she and her art feel most alive. She is a long-time seasoned professional makeup artist (www.carlydoesmakeup.com) and has run her own business, specializing in bridal/wedding work for just over a decade. Her client process focuses on collaboration and connection through co-creation.
Artist Statement: I let the creative process intuitively unfold and invite flow to find me. I have a deep appreciation for re-purposing, re-imagining, and juxtaposing seemingly disparate objects and ideas to watch them interact. I play with veiled patterns in life, art, and everything. Like a moth to a flame, I am drawn to the light, but shadow does not escape me. I am constantly asking the question “why” and letting it unravel the threads to deeper insights and experience. Finding ways to explore, express, and embody my own curiosity invites me to continue to evolve. I am fascinated by the complexity of the human mind, and endlessly inspired by psychology, specifically Dr. Carl Jung’s work. I’ve always been drawn to hidden meanings and scratching at the surface, and because of this my work often hovers at the crossroads of intention and impulse. Hauntingly beautiful patterns of possibility will appear before me. Seizing me awestruck. My eyes are closed yet wide open.
“Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain.”
“Words are animals, alive with a will of their own.”