Mepham freshman finds herself through her charcoal art

Third in a series on Bellmore-Merrick students of the arts.

Fourteen-year-old Olivia Meyer, who will be a freshman at Mepham High School in the fall, has been drawing for longer than she can remember. Her mother, Jane Meyer, used to cut up paper bags from Trader Joe’s and tape them to the walls of their Bellmore home, and Olivia would mark them up.

“I’ve been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil,” she said.

Her mom said that she had to cover the walls with the bags or Olivia would have “drawn all over them. She liked to draw.”

She still does. Scratch that. She loves to draw, so much so that she sketches every day. Her eighth-grade Advanced Art teacher at Grand Avenue Middle School, Melissa Williams, said that Olivia was assigned to complete one sketchbook per quarter. She filled three.

Olivia’s passion for drawing helps explains her success as an artist. In May she was one of 21 Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District eighth- and 12th-graders honored by the Bellmore-Merrick Cultural Arts Council at a ceremony at the Marriott in Uniondale.

Williams, who has taught art for 29 years, including 25 years at Grand Avenue, recommended Olivia for the accolade. Williams said that Olivia is among the top five art students she has had through the years –– if not the very best.

“She is well above her level in terms of technique, sophistication and creativity,” Williams said. “She is reflective of herself in her art. She pours her heart and soul into the art.”

Olivia primarily draws, and nearly always in black and white. “In order to be a good artist, you have to constantly draw,” said her father, Charles, who designs tricked-out bicycles at Local Cycles in Long Beach and builds custom aquariums. “You can’t stop. Her day is not complete unless she draws something.”