Local artist Dr. Lynne Bentley-Kemp has been selected as the 2018 recipient of the Anne McKee Artist’s Fund’s Miriam B. Good Award.  Lynne is the embodiment of the McKee Fund’s mission to facilitate local artists helping artists. This makes her the perfect choice for the Fund’s 2018 Miriam B. Good award, given annually in recognition of continuing contributions to the Florida Keys arts community in the name of Miriam, herself an artistic guiding light.

Lynne has been heavily involved in the local arts community as an advocate, curator, teacher and artist including years of teaching photography and humanities at FKCC and outstanding service with The Studios of Key West, the Sculpture Garden and the Key West Garden Club.

Lynne was a recipient of an Ann McKee Artist’s Fund grant in 2012. She remembers that “the grant helped me to create a body of digitally scanned works for a group show at Lucky Street Gallery and to produce a catalog of the work.” Since then, her work has taken a huge leap into the digital realm. She’s using an iPhone almost exclusively as her camera and her portfolio is curated on her Instagram page.

Much of Lynne’s involvement with the visual world has been grounded in the social and historical influences of photography. This interest prompted her to complete her Ph.D. in Comparative Studies at Florida Atlantic University.  In concert with her academic and scholarly roles, Lynne conducts technical and aesthetic research in infrared, non-silver, and digital photographic techniques. Her work is exhibited nationally and is listed in numerous public and private collections. She is represented in Key West by Lucky Street Gallery.