A visit to New York City can enchant any budding artist. Bermuda-born and now Liverpool-based Ami Zanders is no different, when a trip to the Big Apple at the tender age of 16 inspired her to pursue her lifelong love of art.
“It was when I got to see Van Gogh for the first time,” Zanders tells The Bermudian. “[To] see everything from a magazine to the real thing and be like, ‘This is a holy experience. This is what I want.’”
Pursuing a professional career as an artist seemed predetermined for Zanders, though she didn’t exactly have an auspicious start. Her expressive outlets as a youngster were the type that would land any child in hot water.
“I’ve always wanted to be creative,” says Zanders. “Make a mess. Draw on walls. Draw on furniture. I used to get in trouble for it. I didn’t know it was something that could be done as a skill. It was just taking my mom’s lipstick out of her purse and drawing on the walls.”
Her curiosity about art came into focus thanks to her father, Norman Ingemann, who bought her art books about Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani, along with her schooling at Bermuda Institute, St. George’s Prep and Northlands.
“They always had art teachers or art-in-the-cart teachers that would come in on a Tuesday and Wednesday,” recalls Zanders. “St. George’s Prep was very much into pushing for a creative field so they would always put our artwork in competition so it became competitive where you compete with the other kids in your class. Then, going into high school, it’s the same thing. There’s the Ag show and other high school art shows that they have at Society of Arts and putting it there. So it became, ‘I want to get my work selected for there!’”
Zanders continued her art studies at Bermuda College, leaving to attend the International Fine Arts College in Miami, earning an Associate’s degree in visual arts. From there, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (with a concentration in print making) at Kean University in 2008. In 2020, Zanders received her Master of Arts in contemporary arts from Liverpool John Moores University.
In the time between her studies, Zanders would return to Bermuda, looking for ways to expand the island’s artistic horizons. Teaming up with Michelle Wales, co-owner of the St. George’s CV Café, Zanders hatched a plan to encourage people to visit that part of the island during an economic recession. The first ‘Art Walk in the East’ launched in 2011.
“Having those sculptural elements around the town in order to make it exciting,” says Zanders. “Just colorful elements to bring people there and have something to see, take pictures and have an experience.”
While the Art Walk in the East continued annually until 2017, Zanders launched numerous projects over the years including her embellished modern silk screens that were on display at Common Ground Cafe in 2012. Her art installation, ‘When the Bough Breaks,’ was part of the Bermuda Biennial in addition to being chosen by the Textile Museum of Canada to represent Bermuda at the 2015 Pan Am Games, and her silk screening show, ‘Art from the Living Room Floor,’ was on display at Rock Island Cafe in 2017.
Though there was one particular art display in 2014 involving yarn-bombing trees in front of City Hall and in St. George’s that raised some ire with the public.
“People either loved it or they hated it,” recalls Zanders. “I had one person actually cut it off because he thought it was satanic and witchcraft….[The reaction] was a mixed bag and I think that’s what you want. You want it to be a little bit polarizing.”
While that might have ruffled some feathers, Zanders has always looked to increase Bermudians’ access to the arts, marching for arts education and funding in February 2015 and lobbying the Bermuda government to transform abandoned buses into studio space for budding artists in 2011. She would also like to see Bermuda become a larger player in the art world on an international level.
“I would love to see something like an island Biennial where takes over all of Bermuda,” says Zanders. “The Liverpool Biennial takes up all the art space, outside spaces, parks and everything else. It’s really phenomenal. It brings in a lot of tourists, a lot of tourism but it also gets a lot of artists’ careers launched. If you want artists to make it internationally, they need that extra set of eyes on them and create a buzz.”
Currently, Zanders is working for the Blue Coat, the oldest art center in the United Kingdom. But it’s another role — as a online arts teacher for students in Ukraine, where classes are sometime interrupted due to evacuations — that, for her, is a continuous reminder of the importance of art.
“The first day, they wanted to put their best face forward and show their pride,” says Zanders. “So they’re wearing their national costume and they were speaking in English and in Russian, as well. Some of them didn’t seem as bothered and some were a little bit more timid but they all kind of helped each other out. So it’s that kind of camaraderie and that kind of spirit — like they’re all clapping for each other as they’re showing the work. It’s that spirit that makes the big difference.”
