Inside the Studio: Bev Yankwitt
- Art Dealer Street
- Aug 4
- 6 min read
Bev Yankwitt begins without a fixed image in mind.
There is no reference photo, no realistic subject, and no strict plan waiting to be followed. Instead, her paintings grow through movement, reaction, color, shape, texture, and surprise. As a non-objective abstract painter, Yankwitt allows the work to reveal itself through the process, trusting that energy, composition, and intuition will guide the painting forward.
Her journey into art unfolded more fully after years of working, raising a family, and building a life beyond the studio. Once she had the time to return to her creative practice with focus, she began taking classes, attending workshops, and developing a language rooted in abstraction. What started as exploration became a long-term commitment to painting, teaching, and continued growth.
Yankwitt’s works are lively, expressive, and deeply connected to the elements of design. Acrylic paint, collage, stencils, stamps, and layered marks come together to create paintings that do not tell viewers what to see. Instead, they invite viewers to stay, look longer, and find their own emotional connection.
In this week’s Inside the Studio, Bev Yankwitt reflects on beginning art later in life, painting without a plan, the challenge of abstraction, teaching abstract art, and her experience exhibiting with Clio Art Fair.
Read on to learn more in an exclusive interview with Bev Yankwitt:
Your journey into art began more fully after retirement, following careers in the medical field and financial sector. What changed in your life that finally allowed you to pursue art with full focus?
When I was working a full-time job, raising a family, and running a house, there was not much time or energy left for art.
I do not have a formal art education, so I tried to take evening classes whenever I could fit them into my schedule. When my children left home to pursue their own careers and I was able to retire, I started taking more classes at my local art center, as well as workshops offered in the area.
That is when I began to really focus on developing my art skills.
You describe yourself as a non-objective abstract painter, with no reference photo or fixed plan when you begin. What do you enjoy most about entering a painting without knowing where it will go?
I believe that to create an expressive, energetic non-objective painting, you have to start loose, without a plan, and respond to what is happening on the substrate.
I like the challenge of not knowing what is going to happen. It is fun to see where the painting ends up, but it also forces me to pay attention to the elements of design and composition.
Since there is nothing representational to look at, those elements become very important in holding an abstract painting together.
You have said that abstract art is “just paint, shape, and color,” yet viewers can still connect with it emotionally. What do you hope people feel when they stand in front of one of your paintings?
When a viewer looks at one of my paintings, I hope it draws them in and allows them to find something they can relate to.
That something might be color, or it might be a mood they can feel. The artist’s job is to keep the viewer looking at the painting for as long as possible.
For that to happen, there must be enough interest and movement within the piece.
Your process often includes acrylic paint, hand-painted collage papers, stencils, and stamps. How do you decide when to add texture, collage, or other surface elements into a work?
I start my paintings with an intention. That could be a specific color or value strategy, or maybe the idea that I would like to add some collage.
Usually, as I am progressing on the piece, I study it to see what it needs. Maybe it is too boring in the focal areas, so I might add a piece of collage or some stenciling.
I also like to use stenciling or stamping to transition between shapes or colors, tying them together. Whenever I add anything — collage, stenciling, or stamping — I make sure it is incorporated into the rest of the work, so it feels like it belongs there.
Many artists struggle with letting go of control, but your work seems to welcome surprise. How do you know when to follow an unexpected direction in the painting, and when to pull back?
I love surprises.
Sometimes I will see the shape of something realistic in my non-objective painting. When that happens, I frequently paint it out because I can never stop seeing it.
There have been times, however, when I saw something and decided to go with it. In one painting, I saw the outline of a man and what looked like two women without heads. I decided to pull them out by adding highlights to the male figure and heads to the female figures.
That painting was accepted into a state exhibition and won a big award.
You began with watercolor classes, but once you were introduced to abstract painting, you “never went back to realism.” What did abstraction give you that realism could not?
I think the reason I like painting abstract art is that the end result is always different. It is nothing you have ever seen before.
It is also challenging because there is no reference. It is very hard to produce a good abstract painting.
I have been painting abstractly for probably 14 or 15 years, and I am still not where I would like to be in my artistic journey. That desire to improve is what keeps me painting.
You have taught abstract art for many years at the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda, the same place where your own abstract journey began. How has teaching changed the way you understand your own practice?
Teaching abstract art has been one of the best things I have done.
My students, some of whom have been with me since I started teaching, and I inspire each other. Teaching forces me to continually learn new techniques and different styles so I can bring something engaging to my students.
I still love to take workshops and watch demonstrations where I can learn new things to take back to my class and incorporate into my own art.
I can see the growth in my work over the years that has resulted from teaching. When I look at what I did before I started teaching, what I did when I first started teaching, and what I do now, I see a different direction in the materials I use and in the style of my work. It has become more sophisticated.
You participated in Clio Art Fair in the past, which focuses on giving independent artists direct visibility. What was that experience like for you, and how did it feel to present your abstract work to a wider public audience?
I loved the opportunity to participate in Clio Art Fair and to exhibit my paintings in New York City.
It felt special to show my work in that kind of venue and to meet the other artists. Because of my participation with Clio, I have had other opportunities to enter online shows.
I am grateful that I was selected to be part of the exhibition.
Bev Yankwitt’s work reminds us that abstraction is not about absence. It is about attention.
There may be no realistic subject in her paintings, but there is still movement, rhythm, mood, structure, and feeling. Each work becomes a record of decisions made in the moment — a response to color, shape, texture, and the quiet surprises that appear during the process.
What makes Yankwitt’s practice engaging is her willingness to begin without certainty. She allows the painting to challenge her, to redirect her, and to ask for something she may not have expected. In that process, control gives way to discovery.
Her journey also shows that creative growth does not follow one fixed timeline. After careers, family, and years of balancing life’s responsibilities, Yankwitt found the space to pursue art more deeply. Today, through both her painting and teaching, she continues to learn, experiment, and share the freedom of abstraction with others.
In her hands, abstract painting becomes an invitation: to look longer, feel more openly, and find meaning in color, shape, and movement.
You can learn more about Bev Yankwitt and her work via these links: Website: Bev Yankwitt Instagram: @art_by_bev_yankwitt
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