When your kids come home from school covered in paint and clay, you just might have Kelly Scott ’07 to blame.  Kelly, a fine arts major and education minor from East Syracuse, N.Y., is applying to graduate school for art and plans on becoming an art teacher.  “Art is my personal passion, and I love children, so I can’t think of anything more fun than teaching art to young people,” she says.  “I enjoy art so much because I can totally experiment with my ideas and get the chance to really express my opinions on certain ideas.”

Art takes a lot of time and effort, but the East Syracuse-Minoa High School graduate enjoys every minute of it.  “The art professors here are great.  I found that I can really develop my skills and push myself with the processes and concepts of my art,” she says.  “I have also learned my own potential.  I’ve been creating works of art that I never would have expected myself to do.  The growth that I have seen in my work has given me confidence in my abilities and has encouraged me to open up my options for after I graduate.”

Kelly has been working on an independent study with Assistant Professor of Art and Art History Amy Hauber.  “What is beauty? I am exploring that concept and the distinction between natural beauty and the facade of body image that acts as beauty in today’s society.  I experiment with different materials, such as paint, ceramic sculpture, some collage, and both real and artificial flowers,” she says.  “As a young woman, I am greatly affected by the pressures that society puts on body image, and I want to create a body of work that demonstrates the true beauty behind the faces that we often present in attempts to fit into society’s definition of beautiful.”