Bevin Mirielle
Palana Macutay
About
As an art educator and practicing artist, I am passionate about empowering young people to discover and share their voices through creative expression. I believe creative thinking and collaboration help young people build empathy, confidence, and emotional intelligence. In a digital age where media shapes how we communicate, it is imperative that youth learn to tell their own stories with confidence and authenticity. Because of this, I am eager to uplift young students’ endeavors to develop these skills through photography, videography, and digital storytelling while fostering professional growth.For nearly a decade, I have mentored students within an abundance of school settings and have had the opportunity to teach art to a variety of learners - of different age groups, skill levels, and backgrounds. More recently, as the Art Teacher at Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, I developed an inclusive, student-centered curriculum for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and behavioral challenges. I have also managed classrooms in K-12 schools throughout upstate New York, New York City, and Connecticut as a substitute teacher, group leader, and teaching assistant. As an artist, I base my work off of my own lived experiences - expressing with intention through mixed media that is highly personal and purposeful to the messages behind each piece. I believe that the meaning for each work should be in alignment with the choices for each medium, composition, and display of the work so that its overall narrative is cohesive and results in the strongest impact possible on its viewers. I encourage students to think about not only how they create, but why they create. Each project will begin with an open-ended, concept-based prompt in order for students to use their creative thinking skills to brainstorm project ideas that are meaningful for them. To that end, I will be able to assist them with any guidance they may need to successfully execute those ideas in the ways that they intend.Alongside my classroom teaching experience, I have worked extensively with Adobe Creative Suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Premiere Pro, as well as photography and digital media. These experiences allow me to support students throughout the creative process, from concept development and storyboarding to production and final presentation. Nonetheless, I enjoy helping students build confidence with both traditional and digital creative tools. In addition, I founded a print-on-demand business that involved branding, social media content creation, and creative entrepreneurship. Examples of my artwork can be viewed on my website at bevinmirielle.com/portfolio. As a teaching artist, I am committed to guiding and mentoring students in their creative growth so that they can produce artistic work that is meaningful and personal to them. I will support their ideas and assist in their creation in order to help them achieve the projects they set out to uphold. Not only that but - with my knowledge in arts management - I hope to advise them on any of their entrepreneurial endeavors, help them build upon the skills necessary to be successful in the real world, and create an environment that allows for a supportive and collaborative community of artists. RESUME
My artwork represents my lived experiences and unfiltered emotions; its colors are sweet and vibrant like the interior of a candy shop. At first glance, my work appears fun and joyful, but the longer viewers spend with it, the more they uncover the deeper ideas beneath the surface. I work in both two-dimensional or three-dimensional, and my materials shift with each medium. Across all of it, my compositions are raw, imperfect, messy, and unnatural - built with marks and intentionally placed, found images.
Through my work, I aim to draw viewers vicariously through the waves of my extreme emotions, to enlighten new perspectives of mental health, open their hearts and minds, and ignite a world filled with unconditional empathy for oneself and others. These intentions are held together with the symbolism behind my material choice, images, and color palettes. My pieces leave behind striking messages that are controversial, thought-provoking, and transferential.
Each piece begins with an idea guided by my current state of mind. Inspiration comes from my memories and experiences, especially the intricate moments that I had found mesmerizing, raw, and beautiful. I collect and repurpose many of my materials. A work is complete when its composition is pleasing to the eye.
My artwork is a tribute to the minority, the black sheep, and the misunderstood; they harbor an open mind and an open heart, always willing to learn and grow. My audience is a room full of people who feel invisible, despite yearning for the possibility to finally be seen and to see, for themselves, the people around them who feel just the same. They have endured the difficult aspects of life yet continue to survive no matter how painful their realities may feel.
I have been making art since I was four, working with a variety of mediums and media within different arts concentrations. As an undergraduate, I studied psychology which deepened my emotional intelligence and understanding of the developing mind. I also studied arts management and learned the essentials of marketing, finance, fundraising, and arts law. For almost a decade, I have worked in public schools - with students from age one into their twenties - in roles from visual arts teacher, peer mentor, substitute teacher to teaching assistant and group leader. Presently, my visual arts and art teaching practice survive as a reminder for me to never shy away from what I truly love and have a passion for.
I create colorful, expressive artwork inspired by my lived experiences and emotions, using a variety of mediums to explore mental health, empathy, and the experiences that connect us. It is a desperate attempt to enlighten others’ perspectives of mental health and ignite a world filled with unconditional empathy for oneself and others. My audience is a room full of people who feel invisible, despite yearning for the possibility to finally be seen and to see, for themselves, the people around them who feel just the same.