We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chanel Thervil. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chanel below.

Alright, Chanel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

During the beginning of the pandemic I created “Warm Fuzzy Feels”, a solo exhibition celebrating multi-cultural friendship between women at the Boston’s Children’s Museum. It felt really good to bring joy by highlighting this topic during a hard time. I incorporated quotes from some of the women featured so they could share whats meaningful about their friendships with the museum’s audience. I think it was a great way to model empathy and celebration of differences for kids.

Chanel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a Haitian American artist and educator that uses varying combinations of abstraction and portraiture to convene communal dialogue around culture, social issues, and existential questions. At the core of my practice lies a desire to empower and inspire tenderness and healing among communities of color through the arts. I hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Pace University and a Master’s Degree in Art Education from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. I’ve been making a splash in New England via my educational collaborations, public art, and residencies with institutions like The Museum of Fine Arts, The Boston Children’s Museum, Mass MoCA, The DeCordova Museum, The Surf Point Foundation, and Google. Her work has been featured by PBS Kids, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Bay State Banner, WBUR’s ARTery, WGBH, and Hyperallergic.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started my instagram as a way to show my family what being an artist looked like and everything snowballed from there. I often posted reviews of exhibitions or artworks I happened upon from going to museums, galleries, and doing studio visits with fellow artists. When posting I did my best to keep people engaged using humor and digestible facts about the artsy things I was seeing and experiencing. For anyone just starting to build their social media presence I would say consistency is key! Just start and keep posting.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I’m a naturally curious person so in the studio I’m always experimenting. In my personal practice that reward is seeing my ideas come to fruition. As an educator I like helping others find their Ah-ha moments when engaging with art.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chanelthervil.com
• Instagram: @chanelthervil
• Facebook: @chanelthervil
• Twitter: @chanelthervil