BRYN
Once upon a time there was a girl named Bryn who loved stories. She began an avid reader, poring through books upon books, transported into different worlds, all of which she fell head over heels in love with. There came a time when she finished all the books on the shelf, and she needed to search for stories elsewhere. That was when she discovered new worlds in film, dance, and art. She fell in love with the magic of stories, and as she grew up, she dreamed of making magic of her own.
Welcome to my website! 🙂 My name is Bryn Kelly, and I am a Senior at Mountain View High School attending my second year at Freestyle Academy where I am continuing my journey of telling stories through different media.
Ever since I was little, I loved art. My parents read me bedtime stories at night, and I begged them not to stop. Sleep wasn’t as interesting as the tales of bravery and kindness and fear and glass slippers. As soon as I could write, I would tell my own unfinished stories in a little pink notebook, often just replicating the stories I had read and loved so much.
I began to dance shortly after I had just taken my first steps, not in glass slippers but little pale pink ballet ones. They were just as magical to me. By the time I was 8, I decided that hip hop was the style of dance for me, as it gave me more freedom of expression than other styles of dance. There are moves and history to use as a template, but the style is constantly evolving because the dancers are constantly pushing the boundaries of the style. It is always changing and allows for so much creativity within the movement and choreography. I love it.
I always begged my babysitter Khamille to do more drawings for me, ones of mermaids and fairies and princesses in different colors and styles. I taped them up on my bedroom wall, looking at the drawings as I fell asleep. I experimented on my own, equipped with my crayons, markers, and glitter glue, trying to make Art like hers. I feel so thankful to have been around creative people growing up and to have been able to draw inspiration from so many different sources. I grew up around so much art, and it has helped me develop and explore art of my own.
And now, here at Freestyle, I have the incredible opportunity to be part of a community of people who all want to create art as well. In just my first couple of weeks, I have already had valuable interactions with other Freestyle students in Zoom breakout rooms about poetry or film or art in general. Everyone has been so supportive of one another during presentations and when collaborating, offering compliments as well as constructive feedback to push each other to create our best work. The project based nature of Freestyle is so unlike regular school, but is perfect for studying art. All of the classes are connected, allowing us to develop our skills in different ways in each of our classes. Art is often an individual endeavor, and I am so thankful to be able to study it among many other amazing people.
During my Junior year at Freestyle, I learned so much. Coming into Freestyle, I had hardly picked up a camera before, and I had never explored creating videos, music, digital art, posters, stickers, etc. Being able to expand my love of art and storytelling through learning new technical skills in Digital Media, writing skills in English, and filmmaking skills in Film, was truly an invaluable experience, and I had so much fun doing each and every project. I feel so grateful to have the guidance of teachers and peers who are always available to answer questions and push me to grow even more. I have been able to create art that I never could have otherwise and been able to develop skills that will help me throughout the rest of my life.