From a very young age Kelly Simmons of Farmingdale loved art, whether it was finger painting or doodling. Now at age 17, she has drawn portraits of herself, explored different mediums of art and even learned graphic design. The Farmingdale High School senior was recently presented with the Art Supervisors Association Scholarship at a special ceremony at the 2015 Nassau All-County Art Exhibit at Adelphi University. In September, she plans to attend Fashion Institute of Technology and major in graphic design.
“It was very exciting to participate in the Nassau All-County Art Exhibit and be judged on my art. I won the $200 scholarship for a charcoal self portrait. I was happy to be in an art show, and I hope to be in many others,” said Simmons.
Coming from a private school with a smaller art department, Simmons excelled in all of her art classes when she transferred into Farmingdale High School. “The art classes at Farmingdale High School are so awesome, and the teachers are helpful,” she explained. “I took Studio and Art in 9th grade, Advanced Placement in Art in 11th and I’m currently taking Advanced Placement in Art.”
Simmons is getting prepared for her Advanced Placement in Art exam by creating a portfolio. Her portfolio’s concentration is self portraits, and her portfolio’s breadth shows off her talents.
“These portraits are of me in different time periods. It was a lot of fun drawing myself in different eras like the ‘60s, ‘90s and the future. I used different clothing and designs to achieve all of the different looks,” said Simmons. “My breadth is different pieces that I created using different mediums and styles. I’ve been working on them since last year, and I put so much work into them.”
To enhance her artistic abilities she attended drawing classes for several weeks at Adelphi University last year. Out of all the art she has learned about her favorite types of art involves drawing faces and figures. “My favorite thing to do is draw faces and get them to look like the person I’m drawing,” she said. “It’s very satisfying when I capture the essence of the person.
The portrait doesn’t have to look realistic, but the expression is the most important part to me.”
Simmons is excited to be graduating very soon and to begin her new journey at the Fashion Institute of Technology which she will be commuting to. She does not have much experience in graphic design, but she hopes to excel in it like she has with other types of art.
In five years from now, Simmons sees herself excelling even more. She said, “I see myself graduating college and hopefully having some kind of art related or design job that I enjoy…Maybe I’ll decide to go for my master’s degree. I don’t know yet, but in five years I will know what I want to do.”
Simmons credits her art teacher Ms. Regina Nicholas for her artistic abilities. She said, “My art teacher is great, and I’m glad to have a teacher like her because she is so helpful and very proud of all of her students.”
Simmons’ mother, Kim, is very proud of her daughter for working so hard in school. “Proud would be an understatement,” she said. “She has accomplished so much, and I think she is extremely talented. I still have her artwork saved from when she was 3-years-old, and I always knew she was going to be an artist because she was so good. Besides being talented, she is a really good person and nice kid, and she makes her whole family very proud of her.”
