Southwest Detroit artist Yaidimar Narvaez paints compelling figures of striking imagination —often women—that address conflicting, sometimes painful issues of womanhood today and throughout the ages. Her images “represent my culture,” she said. It is essential to Narvaez that “people can see themselves in the painting.”
This fall, the Western International High School senior will attend the College for Creative Studies on a full scholarship in the newly created major of interdisciplinary art and design. Narvaez will produce works in several media, including metal, glass, fashion, painting, drawing, and ceramics.
Working in a broad array of media nourishes Narvaez’s unquenchable curiosity in many areas of human endeavor, including medicine, sociology, psychology, and the natural world. She is eager to get started. Actually, she is eager to continue. Narvaez began working at the College for Creative Studies at age 14, in the student leadership council, where she developed an appreciation for “the role of activism in art” and the “relationship between women in society and women’s rights.”
It is clear in Narvaez’s colorful, wide-ranging paintings that she has heeded the guidance of Western art teacher Kathleen Dickinson, who gives her students “artistic freedom in their assignments” often rooted in history. When exploring the works of various artists, Dickinson encourages her students to “dive into their inner response” to a piece of art. One artist who has inspired Narvaez is impressionist Edgar Degas, whose works bristle with energy and emotion.
Narvaez’s art is already enriching public spaces, including a “calming” painting that is a permanent installation in the waiting room of the neonatal unit of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan. Collaborating with several other artists on this piece was a learning experience for Narvaez. “Communication is very important,” she said. “You really have to listen.”
Narvaez has a piece in a traveling exhibition featuring Black Catholic saints, icons, and heroes, and a work at the Detroit Institute of Arts in the 88th Annual Detroit Public Schools Community District Student Exhibition from April 18th to May 25th, 2025.
Narvaez has also entered the Congressional Art Competition. The winning works are displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol. Narvaez is one of four student curators of the annual art exhibition at Western International High School starting May 13.
Narvaez said her art is a way to “speak to people as they are, not just an ideal image.”
William Bowles is an instructor at Wayne County Community College and Wayne State University. He was a teacher and librarian at Western International High School for 25 years.
