We are deeply saddened by the recent passing of Ann deVere, a veteran teaching artist, architect, and Lifetime Arts Trainer. As a native New Yorker with a visual arts concentration in printmaking, Ann taught classes and workshops in public schools, cultural centers, and arts organizations throughout NYC, in addition to implementing arts programming for all ages. Throughout her teaching artist career, she engaged her students in critical discourse, concept development, and creative problem solving — all the while drawing upon their imaginations. Her students developed a sense of their own capabilities, discovered their ideas have value, and learned how they can enrich the environments around them.
Ann was also involved with the community organization, DreamYard Project, where she and fellow teaching artists — including Lifetime Arts Trainer, AsmaFeyijinmi — collaborated on the video project below. The project focuses on an artist’s relationship with time and the many roles that artists play throughout their lifetime. “It captured a moment where teaching artists could ground with each other, express their vulnerabilities,” said Asma. “Ann’s legacy of willingness to embrace other’s visions comforts me.”
“I think we judge too much on how we create and what that standard is.”
Ann deVere
Ann’s Teachings Cultivated Joy, Guidance, and Healing at Lifetime Arts
Ann deVere (pictured top right) leads a collage demonstration class during Lifetime Arts’ training for Maryland teaching artists in 2021.
Ann joined Lifetime Arts in early 2021 during a time when community engagement and in-person arts education programming was slowly returning after the initial impact of COVID-19. As a seasoned educator and older adult herself, Ann was determined to teach as many creative aging practitioners as she could through joyful, human-centered training sessions online. During one artmaking demonstration lesson in 2021, she instructed training participants to create a collage using only five items with no drawing or words. She created her own collage and explained how she used her five items below.
“Here is my completed collage about how my childhood growing up around and in nature allowed me to explore, daydream, and play — inspiring a life in creativity.“
“The textured circle represents my imagination and creativity, which I cut out from a larger sheet of paper.
The green tissue paper represents nature that I layered two times to get the vibrant lime green you see creating contrast and background.
The brown female figure in orange clothing represents me, rising from a dark brown base, which I cut up to create these wave-like shapes that reference how I felt the earth nurture the foundation of my being and saw the shapes initially as wings carrying me. This was all cut out from one sheet. I created emphasis with the figure, texture, and movement with the wave/wing-like shapes.
The orange tissue paper, which I tore as opposed to cutting out and layered, was used to create texture, contrast, background, and movement.
The cut-out tan pattern shape is a reminder to me of how design is an integral part of my creative life.”
Gahlia Eden, Lifetime Arts’ Education Producer, assisted Ann during this demonstration class. She shares how working with Ann and creating her own collage helped her process loss and healing through artmaking.
Gahlia’s collage she created during Ann’s demo class.
“I have felt deeply connected to Ann as she was instrumental in my processing the loss of my best friend Juan in 2021. It [the collage making] was really powerful because for me, it inspired an honoring and a grieving process through a medium I had not explored. I began creating collages out of the seemingly less ‘significant’ items he left behind with me like candy wrappers, notes, condolence cards, etc. Losing my best friend has changed the course of my life in ways I am still yet to discover, and artmaking has been a huge part of that discovery. I have felt deep gratitude and respect for Ann for facilitating that process for me and I consider her a leader and a guide in my ongoing healing. There is a line from an E.E. Cummings poem I am reminded of anytime I experience loss. He writes, ‘I carry your heart. I carry it in my heart,’ and that is exactly what we are doing for Ann. We carry her heart, we carry it in our hearts.”
Shared Memories From Staff, Trainers, and Loved Ones
Our staff, trainers, and those closest to Ann have been honoring her legacy by sharing how Ann impacted their professional and personal lives. Below is a small sample of the many memories we’ve shared and will continue to share with each other.
Ann teaching a class to older adult students.
Ann with her students during a culminating event for a SU-CASA program she taught in 2018.
This blog post will serve as an ongoing tribute for Ann. If you would like to share your reflection and/or media, please email Jacqueline DuMont, Digital Media Producer at jdumont@lifetimearts.org. Thank you!
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