Sketching The Future: Palmer One of 20 Accepted to College of Design
Wilkes Early College senior hopes to start her own business.
By AMIE KNOWLES
WILKES COUNTY — She’d made up her mind. When Olivia Palmer earned her diploma, she’d jump right into a mathematics based program. But then, the Wilkes Early College senior picked up a pencil.
“I got really bored in math,” Palmer said. “Originally, I was going to be an electrical engineer, but then I started to draw and realized that was a lot more fun than doing formulas.”
Setting off on a new path, the 13th grader — that is, the majority of students at the high school complete both a WECHS diploma and Wilkes Community College associate’s degree in five years, as opposed to earning a high school diploma alone in four — applied to North Carolina State University as her top choice school. Much to her delight, she received an acceptance letter.
“I was stoked to get in anyway because that’s where I wanted to go,” Palmer said.
That’s when Palmer applied for a prestigious spot at the NC State College of Design, one of only 20 available — and the would-be electrical engineer got it.
“When I did get in, I hate to say it, but I did cry because I was so happy,” Palmer said. “I worked hard for that one.”
Gearing up for her first semester at a four-year university, the super senior, as 13th graders are called, looked forward to first finishing her hybrid high school and community college experience.
“It’s just a different learning style altogether,” Palmer said. “You essentially become one with your studies as you travel within the community college, really, to see what the real world is like. It’s like one of those endless summer camps, essentially, because there’s always something.”
With only one online class, one greenhouse and one greenhouse operations course standing between herself and NC State, everything seemed right on track. That’s when the coronavirus hit North Carolina.
Adapting to a New Environment
Like other schools in the state, WECHS switched to an online format, closing down in-person operations. Palmer noted that she didn’t have any Zoom meetings like some students throughout the state, but did keep in contact with her horticulture teacher to complete class requirements.
“As far as school goes, the early college gives you a lot of leeway to be self-sustaining, so I wasn’t caught too hard with how I was going to operate it myself,” Palmer said. “But since horticulture is hands-on learning, that’s all it became.”
Taking the greenhouse classes into her own hands — literally — Palmer started a garden and tended to the plants.
“You’re just going outside and putting plants in the ground,” Palmer said. “It’s great.”
As the plants grew and changed, Palmer faithfully kept her teacher up to date on the garden’s progress.
“You check in and they make sure you’re out there doing something and learning,” Palmer said.
While COVID-19 didn’t have a drastic impact on Palmer’s schooling like it did for many students in the Old North State, the national shutdown did allow the 13th grader more time to focus on her art.
Favoring colored pencils as a medium, the artist also paints, draws and conceptualizes an array of subject matter.
“I center toward commercial illustration,” Palmer said. “So that’s like background art, pieces that go in people’s homes and character design for videogames.”
She doesn’t only draw on tangible surfaces, like paper, canvas and wood.
“I also do a lot of digital illustrations because it’s more professional that way,” Palmer said. “And if you mess up, you’re not wasting any material. You keep going, and I love it.”
More than a high school hobby, the super senior soon plans to sell her artwork to help offset upcoming educational costs.
“Right now, in order to help fund college, I’m going to be starting an art business called Ink Fried Marlin,” Palmer said. “It’s stationed toward coastal art because one of the big untapped resources is people who want coastal pieces.”
The inspiration for many coastal art pieces comes from stories the 18-year-old’s father tells her about his days as a Carolina Beach charter boat runner.
Those hoping to snag an Olivia Palmer original best move quickly before she hits the big time. In fact, the artist is already well on her way. She recently had her work featured at the Wilkes Art Gallery.
“I’ve been there twice with four paintings, and then I’ve done their Art Walk, which the last one I was in, I was in the art gallery itself doing it,” Palmer said. “That was fairly fun because they had their Kids Day.”
Palmer spoke to the children about her artwork and her inspiration for pieces, but also took time to gallivant the gallery with the spectators.
“It was great,” Palmer said. “Most of it, however, was me following them around because they wanted to show me the pieces they had in the art museum.”
As an Art and Design major at NC State, Palmer expressed her desire to one day make a living off of her artwork as a professional artist. However, the thought of money isn’t the force that drives her creativity — it’s a passion for doing something she loves in a career setting where she thrives.
“I would love to be either a children’s book designer or concept artist, but I would love to stay in touch with community galleries and be in touch with the community because I think that’s an awesome group to learn from,” Palmer said.
While any artist would certainly love to join the ranks of Picasso, Rembrandt and Monet, household name recognition’s not what the WECHS graduate’s ultimately after. It’s something far more valuable than any exhibition opportunity a gallery could offer or any currency could purchase.
“Honestly, I just hope that my art might help someone,” Palmer said. “Even if I’m forgotten in 1,000 years that’s okay as long as someone got something inspirational from my art.”
For more about Olivia’s story and others from the Class of 2020, you can pick up NWNC’s Class of 2020 Graduation Yearbook for Wilkes County. The magazine was released July 24. To order a copy, just email Martha Combs at martha@nwncmagazine.com.
