Meet the Visual Artist Who Plans to Have a Career in Arts Management
By Bridney C.
23-year-old Kelly Nolan is a visual artist who enjoys working with photo collages and watercolors. She grew up in an artistic household and her mother instilled the importance of art in her as a child.
As a toddler, Kelly created art using her art supplies that consisted of markers, crayons, and poster boards. She first fell in love with visual art in her third-grade art class. Art has served as an outlet for her to allow her creativity to run free, saying that art is the best form of self-healing and expression.
Two of her favorite digital illustrations include Dreaming in the Grass, a digital illustration she made last year of her 2-year-old German Shepherd named Roxy. Her second favorite, The River is a digital illustration of the area she grew up near Lake Placid, New York.
“I love how art is used for expressing as well as the fact that the limit is your imagination.”
Hailing from Upstate New York, Kelly is currently in her senior year at Mitchell College majoring in arts management. By taking a mix of business and art courses, Kelly plans to pursue her visual art career on the side while working her day job at an arts organization.
This has led to Kelly interning at the Lyman Art Museum - and first learned about the organization through the career development office on campus. “I look forward to getting an understanding of the details of planning and setting up art exhibitions and events,” says Kelly.
She is excited to learn how an arts organization is operated and network with other visual artists. She considers art to be an outlet to share with her friends and family to further enhance her creativity.
“I have always loved all types of art from fine art to theater and performing art to photography, and even writing.”
To hear and see more from Kelly Nolan, be sure to follow
her on Instagram @queen_gginger.