By Passers-by of the student art galleries often view the paintings, sculptures or pictures being showcased, but they usually don’t see the artist behind the works. Graduate student Kelly Nye, a showcased artist, is the creative mind behind wearable food sculptures.
Nye was the first person within the undergraduate design program at Columbus College of Art and Design to move on to graduate school, and is in her second year at Cal State Long Beach. She plans on graduating in fall 2009.
An extracurricular activity in the first grade sparked an interest in art for Nye.
“I won a stick figure drawing [contest] in elementary school, and my dad was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re gifted,'” Nye said.
She continued gaining interest by attending Saturday morning classes for kids of all ages.
“I was doing that every Saturday morning at 8 a.m., so that was just how I got involved,” Nye said.
Nye hasn’t always had a clear direction of what she wanted to do when it came to art. During undergraduate school at Columbus, she started out as a graphic designer and switched to fine arts just a year before she graduated.
“Now I really developed a series of work, using the same kind of food themes and plastics. I think now I definitely have more direction,” Nye said.
Nye prefers to call her work “wearable sculpture,” and she’s been doing it for four to five years. She explained that “wearable sculpture goes beyond jewelry – it’s more of a bodily accessory.”
Although her work actually looks wearable, she isn’t interested in having people wear it.
“For me, it is the show aspect of the gallery setting, maybe a fashion show setting, something more that is not attainable,” Nye said.
Even though this was not her first time participating in a student art show, it was “more exciting because I’m happier with this work than I think I’ve ever been with any other work,” Nye said. “I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback. My work is always expanding and moving forward, so this is just one step towards another show or display.”
After graduation she plans on going into fashion photography or having a fashion show that features her art. Her dream job would be teaching metal and jewelry. She’s currently teacher interning.
“It’s great; a lot of these kids have never taken any jewelry classes before and never worked with metal. They’re all very exciting to watch,” Nye said.
