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Power of visual art fuels deaf student's dreams - State - Kentucky.com
Kellie Martin always believed in the power of visual art, and it has started to take her places she has only dreamed about.
The Kentucky School for the Deaf senior already has been accepted and will study art at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the oldest and most prestigious university for the deaf in the United States.
For much of the past semester, she has also been part of a unique partnership with Centre College. Martin is getting a head start on college life as a student in Professor Sheldon Tapley's Painting and Drawing 1 class.
The connection with Centre began when KSD science teacher LisaAnn Hampton saw a chance for Martin to use her talent as an artist to teach herself and others about evolution.
Instead of doing a written senior project about the origins and development of life on earth, Hampton asked Martin to work on a mural in her classroom to tell the story visually.
"The original project was just some depictions of the solar system and a few significant organisms, but she came up with doing the changing Earth from the very beginning of life," Hampton said.
Martin contacted Centre about the possibility of letting one of her most gifted students try her hand at a college level studio art class. Tapley soon agreed to let Martin audit his course.
"I knew that Kellie has talent and potential and that she could handle working in a college environment," Hampton said. "It is good for her to view the level of work that is expected, and I think it has already made her more comfortable with that."
The arrangement suited Martin, who said the urge to create has been strong her entire life.
"I have loved to sketch things since I was very young, and it has been my dream to be an artist," Martin said. "I have always been passionate about drawing and painting. Somehow art is just in my blood."
Martin said she constantly looks for ways to make art from her surroundings. "I like to take things that are in my world and portray them the way that I see them," she said.
Martin was born in Tennessee but spent much of her childhood after the age of 5 as a KSD student.
She eventually moved with her family back to Tennessee. After her junior year in high school, she decided to come back to Kentucky on her own so that she could finish high school at KSD.
"I feel like KSD is my home," Martin said.
Making herself at home in an intermediate level college art class midyear was slightly more difficult.
Tapley acknowledged that it is a significant step.
"The level of a college course is so much higher than the average high school class," he said. "She has been brave to take this on. She had to absorb a great deal of new terminology and concepts very quickly. Right now it is about giving her the experience in a college setting and hopefully a leg up next year."
Martin said that she has begun to feel more comfortable in the class and has learned a great deal about her art and herself.
"It was kind of hard for me starting in the middle of the semester, but I have gotten more comfortable. (Tapley) and everyone there has been so patient. It has helped me know that art is what I want to do."
Tapley said he has been impressed with Martin's determination as much as her sketches.
"When high school students have self-identified as artists, as Kellie has, at such an early age, they are going to be fine," he said.
Martin credits Tapley, among others, with helping her mature as an artist.
"I have met some artists in Danville, such as David Farmer, as well as Professor Tapley, who have really caused me to become more serious about art. I have learned so much in that last year."
Hampton also requested that one of Tapley's students act as a mentor for Martin. Anna Mitchell, a junior studio art major at Centre, has been working with Martin at KSD several days a week to assist her with the mural.
With Mitchell's help, Martin has begun transferring sketches for what will be an artistic timeline encircling Hampton's Kerr Hall classroom at KSD.
The mural, which Martin is now sketching in pencil, begins with bacteria and life in the seas and will continue through the dawn of humans.
Kellie Martin always believed in the power of visual art, and it has started to take her places she has only dreamed about.
The Kentucky School for the Deaf senior already has been accepted and will study art at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the oldest and most prestigious university for the deaf in the United States.
For much of the past semester, she has also been part of a unique partnership with Centre College. Martin is getting a head start on college life as a student in Professor Sheldon Tapley's Painting and Drawing 1 class.
The connection with Centre began when KSD science teacher LisaAnn Hampton saw a chance for Martin to use her talent as an artist to teach herself and others about evolution.
Instead of doing a written senior project about the origins and development of life on earth, Hampton asked Martin to work on a mural in her classroom to tell the story visually.
"The original project was just some depictions of the solar system and a few significant organisms, but she came up with doing the changing Earth from the very beginning of life," Hampton said.
Martin contacted Centre about the possibility of letting one of her most gifted students try her hand at a college level studio art class. Tapley soon agreed to let Martin audit his course.
"I knew that Kellie has talent and potential and that she could handle working in a college environment," Hampton said. "It is good for her to view the level of work that is expected, and I think it has already made her more comfortable with that."
The arrangement suited Martin, who said the urge to create has been strong her entire life.
"I have loved to sketch things since I was very young, and it has been my dream to be an artist," Martin said. "I have always been passionate about drawing and painting. Somehow art is just in my blood."
Martin said she constantly looks for ways to make art from her surroundings. "I like to take things that are in my world and portray them the way that I see them," she said.
Martin was born in Tennessee but spent much of her childhood after the age of 5 as a KSD student.
She eventually moved with her family back to Tennessee. After her junior year in high school, she decided to come back to Kentucky on her own so that she could finish high school at KSD.
"I feel like KSD is my home," Martin said.
Making herself at home in an intermediate level college art class midyear was slightly more difficult.
Tapley acknowledged that it is a significant step.
"The level of a college course is so much higher than the average high school class," he said. "She has been brave to take this on. She had to absorb a great deal of new terminology and concepts very quickly. Right now it is about giving her the experience in a college setting and hopefully a leg up next year."
Martin said that she has begun to feel more comfortable in the class and has learned a great deal about her art and herself.
"It was kind of hard for me starting in the middle of the semester, but I have gotten more comfortable. (Tapley) and everyone there has been so patient. It has helped me know that art is what I want to do."
Tapley said he has been impressed with Martin's determination as much as her sketches.
"When high school students have self-identified as artists, as Kellie has, at such an early age, they are going to be fine," he said.
Martin credits Tapley, among others, with helping her mature as an artist.
"I have met some artists in Danville, such as David Farmer, as well as Professor Tapley, who have really caused me to become more serious about art. I have learned so much in that last year."
Hampton also requested that one of Tapley's students act as a mentor for Martin. Anna Mitchell, a junior studio art major at Centre, has been working with Martin at KSD several days a week to assist her with the mural.
With Mitchell's help, Martin has begun transferring sketches for what will be an artistic timeline encircling Hampton's Kerr Hall classroom at KSD.
The mural, which Martin is now sketching in pencil, begins with bacteria and life in the seas and will continue through the dawn of humans.