Rackham Graduate School - University of Michigan

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S T U D E N T P R O F I L E SPhoto by Bill WoodYvette Amstelveen12Yvette Amstelveen’s current titleis Visiting Scholar at theUniversity of Michigan Schoolof Art, the first painter ever to holdthat position. But the adjective in thattitle is as meaningful to her as thenoun: she’s going to get around.Like any serious artist, she spendsher prime time in the studio. She hasalready created considerable art in her24 years, and her pieces have beenexhibited at the National Arts Club.Likewise, her academic credentials —a bachelor of fine arts from the CooperUnion in New York City and a masterof fine arts in painting from U-M —are very much in order. A native ofSuriname, she moved with her familyto Miami when she was eight, speaksthree languages, and was even one ofGlamour magazine’s top 10 collegewomen in 1996.Photo by Bill Wood
But perhaps her true art, or calling,is beautifying people’s lives byenabling them to do their own art,whether by teaching urban childrenin their schools or immersing herselfin the Lower Cass Corridorproject in Detroit. As one of thefew painters working on the project,her plan is to use the abandonedbuildings in the neighborhoodto create temporary art installationsas a window series of paintings.By involving residents in thedesign and implementation of theinstallations, for example, by usingtheir own patterns of clothes andfaces, she wants to help them createa “neighborhood board quilt”that will immediately beautify thearea, uplift spirits, and develop agreater sense of ownership andpride in the community.What she calls “a neighborhoodboard quilt” is a variation on hertheme for the summer of 1998,when she worked with kids — inNewark, Brooklyn, and Ann Arbor— to create neighborhood canvasquilts of their self-portraits. Lastsummer, she taught teens at theAnn Arbor Art Center, free-lancedfor Martha Stewart Living magazineand did missionary work inHungary for the Assemblies of Godchurch. For two of her years atCooper Union, she commutedevery Saturday to the Bronx to, yes,teach art to children.Her art, her community activities,and her faith are interwovenfor Amstelveen. “There’s this chapterin Isaiah that talks about providingthe wanderer with shelter,clothing the naked, looseningchains and cords when people areunder oppression, and your lightshall rise in the darkness,” she says.“When I go to Newark or ConeyIsland, I could paint beautifulthings on the outside, but if I canaffect that life, allow them to seebeauty through art, then that’s whatI want to do.” ■Photo by Yvette Amstelveen2 Timothy 2:20in the Private Collection of John WoodfordPhoto by Yvette Amstelveen13
Page 1 and 2: RACKHAMAlumni Magazine Fall 1999U N
Page 3 and 4: From the DeanWelcome to the inaugur
Page 5 and 6: Thanks to the Iliad and theOdyssey,
Page 7 and 8: Photo by Jane Hamblinmy thesis advi
Page 9 and 10: The institute he co-directed bothmo
Page 11 and 12: “Our ultimate goal is to replace
Page 13: molecular techniques to my behavior

Rackham Graduate School - University of Michigan

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