The Art & Design of Yvonne Parker
Yvonne Parker has spent her life as an artist and designer. Starting with porcelain painting at age 9, her artist-father guided her in the mastery of drawing and painting and encouraged her to explore various other media.
Born in Europe, Yvonne came to America in 1985 and continued her career as a fashion model. In 1990, she returned to Europe to further her knowledge of art. It was at the famous Basel Art Fair where she met her husband-to-be, Dr. Ronald Parker, an art dealer and art publisher, in 1991. The couple divided their time among their homes, "The Orchard" in Newport, RI, the "Oliver Cromwell" in New York City and "The Vantine" in Milford, PA. It was Yvonne’s challenge to complete the interior design of these three properties. During this time, she studied at the New York School of Interior Design and also interned with Samuel Botero (one of the Architectural Digest top 100) in NYC.
Today, she views each room in a design project as a blank canvas to be transformed by assembling furniture, art, objects, textures, and color into an aesthetic statement. In turn, the Gestalt of all of the rooms must make an emotional statement as an integrated whole.
"If I had to pick one word to describe my art & design, it would be "assemblage" because that is my task whether or not I am completing a decoupage object of art or designing "The Pointe", a 6,400 square foot home she just finished in Lackawaxen (www.parkerplaces.com).
All of her design projects have been guided by her mission statement: "My mission is to work with nice people to "rescue" houses in order to transform them into nice homes for other nice people."
In September 2007, "The Vantine" was the setting for an elaborate exhibition of Yvonne’s decoupage.
One reviewer wrote: "The skillful blending of exquisite imagery, fascinating textures, and harmonious colors on these individually created objects of art reflect the unique vision of Yvonne Parker.
Her artistic style evolved from her background in Europe and developed from her extensive travels around the world.
Historical places, exotic cultures, and nature’s beauty became Yvonne’s key sources of inspiration as she explored different avenues of creative expression.
Her passion for porcelain painting and collage led her to the combination of mixed media on glass. More recently, she expanded her creations to include a variety of objects of art such as bottles, trays, mirrors, screens and furniture. On each extraordinary object, intricate layers of graphic images and exquisite papers integrate with paint and metallic powders. Fusing visuals from the past with materials of the present, Yvonne crates a distinctive contemporary synergy of light, color, form and texture on each of her themed art pieces."