Sabrina Nelson, recipient of CCS’s 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award

CCS’s 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, Sabrina Nelson, ’91 Fine Arts, will never forget her first visit to College for Creative Studies.

It was 1985, and Nelson was fresh out of Detroit’s Cooley High School. The graphic designer at her summer job with the State of Michigan — CCS alum Rob Kangas, ’80 Photography— had encouraged her to apply, even going as far as setting up her admission interview and dropping her and her sketchbook off at the Yamasaki Building.

A mom at 15, Nelson had filled her sketchbook with drawings of her baby and other things important to her, like the covers of her favorite Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson and Prince albums, along with the required calligraphy. She wasn’t aware that she’d needed a portfolio, or even what one was — until the admissions counselors pushed her artwork back across the table and said, “No, you’re not ready.”

“I was angry. I felt ignored. I felt invisible,” said Nelson, who left the interview without being offered advice or even a tour. “And because I’m hyper independent, it pissed me off.”

Although the expression “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” may not have been intended for art school rejections, it certainly applies to how Nelson handled hers. While she waited for Kangas to pick her up, she explored campus on her own. Sketchbook tucked under her arm, she walked through the Industrial Design studios, asking students to show what they were working on, knowing she was equally capable.

“I felt ashamed because I knew I was an artist and I knew I was good,” Nelson said.

Kangas made Nelson another appointment, this time with Hope Palmer at Henry Ford Community College (now Henry Ford College). She was accepted and stayed for a year and a half, with Palmer advising her on what classes to take.

“I left with a 4.0 and a hell of a portfolio,” she said. “And I made another appointment with the same people who rejected me.”

Although the three admissions counselors didn’t remember Nelson from her first CCS interview, they wouldn’t forget her again. Impressed with her portfolio, especially her figure and life drawings, they not only offered her admission but also nearly a full tuition scholarship.

By that time, Nelson was 20 and the mother of two. Still nursing her son — Mario Moore, ’09 Illustration, recipient of CCS’s 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award — she took the campus by storm. She asked to work in the Admissions Office for her work-study, hoping to ensure no other CCS hopefuls left rejected and dejected. She raised her voice when Black artists weren’t studied in art history classes. Children often in tow, she served on student government and as president of BART (Black Artists Researching Trends).

View Sabrina’s work at https://www.sabrinanelsonart.com/