MARCH 24, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerCommunity
Keizer teen makes most of pencil
KEIZERTIMES.COM
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Long before she got her
fi rst violin, Kim Ockerman,
14, Keizer, would tuck a re-
cycled egg carton, or really
anything she could get her
hands on, under her chin,
and using a pencil, pretend
like she was playing.
“She’s wanted to play the
violin since she was tiny,
two, three years old,” Kim’s
mother Jessica said. “I played
(cello) in a quartet with my
friends and she was exposed
to it.”
When Kim wasn’t using a
pencil to pretend playing the
violin, she was using the tool
to draw.
“I’ve drawn for as long as
I could pretty much hold a
pencil,” Kim said. “I’ve been
drawing for as long as I can
remember.”
The drawing eventually
turned to painting and the
two hobbies, music and art,
recently got Kim a seat in
the Salem Youth Symphony
and a spot in the 10th an-
nual K-12 exhibition “The
Language of Art” at the Uni-
versity of Oregon’s Jordan
Schnitzer Museum of Art.
While Kim submitted an
acrylic portrait of her moth-
er playing cello, she prefers to
paint animals.
“I’ve been working on
trying to paint more people
because it’s newer for me to
do,” Kim said. “I’ve always
done animals. I have a hard
time with hands because
they’re weird to paint. So it’s
a new thing for me to be do-
ing.”
The exhibit, which runs
through May 28, is also a
fi rst. Kim’s piece was one
of 45 chosen from over 200
submissions.
“I had never really done
anything like that before, a
real exhibit, so this was pretty
exciting for me,” Kim said.
Kim got her fi rst violin
from Uptown Music in the
third grade when the Ocker-
mans moved to Keizer from
the Eugene area.
Kim takes private lessons
from Eadie Anelli in Silver-
ton.
“I played violin when
I was little and I couldn’t
make it sound like I thought
it should,” Jessica said. “She
(Kim) just picks it up and it
sounds like it’s supposed to.”
Kim plays classical musical
in the Salem Youth Sympho-
ny, which was also a change.
“It’s been interesting, very
challenging,” Kim said.
“The music that they pick
is really diffi cult but it’s really
fun to play. I’ve never been in
a symphony before. I’ve been
in an orchestra so now I have
the drums, woodwinds. It’s
really fun to hear everything
come together.
“I also like to play fi ddle
music. I like the Irish jigs.
Those are fun to play.”
Kim went to Cummings
Elementary and then How-
ard Street Charter School in
Salem.
For high school, she en-
rolled in Oregon Virtual
Academy, which has given
her more fl exibility to play
music, draw and paint.
“It fi ts her style a little
better,” Jessica said.
“She gets over stimulated
with all the people. It’s very
stressful for her so I think
home schooling has let her
relax a little bit and she’s
shown a lot more creativity
and more interest in what she
wants to do.”
One of those interests
is learning a foreign lan-
guage—Russian.
“That’s going okay,” Kim
said. “It’s a very diffi cult lan-
guage.”
“She doesn’t do anything
easy,” Jessica added.
The Ockermans attend
a Jehovah’s Witness Rus-
sian congregation in Keizer,
which has given both Jes-
sica and Kim plenty of op-
portunities to practice the
language.
“Everyone is out of their
comfort zone because we
have friends who are from
Ukraine and Russia, they’re
learning a new language and
how to get jobs and we’re
learning their language, so
we’re all foreigners together,”
Jessica said.
“I think it’s a great learn-
ing experience for her. It
opens up the whole world
because we know people
from everywhere that have
KEIZERTIMES/Delek Wiley
Kim Ockelman, 14, Keizel, plays violin in flont of two of hel lecent paintings. Ockelman lecently enlolled in Olegon Viltual Acad-
emy, which gives hel mole fl exability to play music, paint and even lealn Russian.
Submitted
Left: Kim Ockelman, who lecently joined the Salem Youth
Symphony, plays violin with hel teachel Eadie Anelli in Silvel-
ton. Right: Ockelman, who has a piece in the 10th annual K-12
exhibition “The Langauage of Alt” at the Univelsity of Olegon’s
Joldan Schnitzel Museum of Alt, dlaws in hel favolite note-
book.
been everywhere and it
makes the world accessible.”
Kim wants to continue to
WVP is pleased to
WELCOME
Maddie N. Buda, PA-C
Family Medicine
Board Certified Physician Assistant
EDUCATION & TRAINING
UNDERGRADUATE: Pennsylvania State University
explore the world by travel-
ing and then drawing and
painting whatever she sees.
“That’s pretty much what
I do. I draw and I paint and I
play music,” she said.
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