Kelly later entered the University of Manitoba School of Art where Professor George Swinton became a major influence as a teacher and mentor during his 4 years of Art School.  He spent many hours learning about the history of art & exploring the creativity of  the masters at Swinton’s home. Kelly graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Diploma in Fine Arts in 1958.

     Kelly had as much fascination with music as with visual art, not an unusual combination, but the social protest songs rang out even more loudly to him during the 50’s. Inspired by Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie he became Winnipeg’s first folk singer during his later art school years and performed regularly in a local restaurant. On the night before he left for England in 1959, he recorded an album for London Records of  Canada  - Folk Songs by Kelly Clark.

     Although Kelly participated in a number of exhibits ( Artist CV ) and his works are seen in many private and corporate art collections, he never really had a great interest in the marketing end of the art business, prefering to be the artist's artist and spend his time creating. Kelly was a prolific artist, creating works in various media of which many works have not been publically accessible. In 1998 the Winnipeg Art Gallery and Gallery 1.1.1., U of M School of Art mounted a retrospective of his works and from this exhibition was produced an award winning art book. This book is available through the Gallery Shoppes at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
 

    The other dramatic change Kelly experienced was the change in the density of the population, never before had he encountered so many people on a daily basis. This observation of the heavy population density manifests itself in many of his UK paintings, the "face" paintings, some of which are almost entirely filled with staring faces.

     After returning to Canada and spending some time in Toronto, Kelly returned to Winnipeg in June, 1966. He reconnected with a classmate friend, Jack Lewis–Smith who was running an art school. Kelly again had access to models, which he hadn’t had since 1962 in Salzburg. Beginning with the models he began drawing again, mostly pen & ink. This return to a fairly basic artistic exercise, plus a new relationship, lead him into exploring the subject of erotic art.

    These sessions began in November, 1987 and continued, weekly, up until April, 1989.  It was a productive experience for all concerned;  the artists and the model. Although the drawings were quick sketches one can see that Kelly was a masterful draftsman.