Kelly is a professional fine artist and the owner of Minor Miracles, an art studio in Prince William County, VA. She has supported the Kuma Foundation in many ways, from donating to and delivering for our food delivery/ Safe Learning Environment Program, to creating content for our Career Exploration Program, to teaching art in our Elementary STEAM Club. We are so lucky to have Kelly on the Kuma Foundation team!
Q: How did you hear about the Kuma Foundation?
A: Sally Crockett told me of the wonderful work the foundation has and is doing, and I couldn’t help but be a part of it!
Q: What made you want to volunteer?
A: Helping children and people in need is at the heart of my passions. Kuma Foundation is a leader in doing just that. The free STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) education opportunities for low-income and underserved students, along with the added help they are providing families with food and shelter expense assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, are incredible.
Q: Tell us about yourself.
A: I am blessed to have a loving group of family and friends. I owe a debt of gratitude to my parents, my husband and my daughter for their constant love and support. I am also lucky to have a profession that I love that enables me to follow my dreams every day.
Q: What are you doing when you aren’t volunteering?
A: Creating! I am an anti-racist artist and I create commissioned and non-commissioned art -mostly acrylic painting on canvas or paper. I also teach art lessons and host art parties. The pandemic has led my normally in-person taught art lessons and art birthday parties to the virtual platform. Currently, I am selling one of my prints entitled “MLK, Jr” to benefit @Jirani’s Coffeehouse -a local, black-owned business. Next month I will be painting live in front of an audience at a local art venue-details coming out soon on social media!
Q:What have you gained from your experience volunteering with us?
A: Besides the obvious benefit that serving others is an honor and also blesses the volunteer, this experience has pushed me to expand my knowledge of the many applications of virtual art and how it can heal others. Art is so important to all people, whether someone is an artist or not. We are all creative beings and thrive off of this in everything we do and will do in the future. Having access to art and art materials/methods is not a given, and reaching as many people as possible is important work.
Q: Fun fact about you?
A: I was a video-disc jockey in college and would have loved to be an 80s one-hit wonder!
FOLLOW ALONG ON OUR MISSION TO NARROW THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP!
