Summer Art lessons! Drawing, painting and college prep. Experienced faculty from Yale School of Art and RISD.

Yaminay is hands down one of the kindest and most supportive design professors I have ever had the pleasure of working with.
We met while I was a sophomore at Brown—I enrolled in a digital representation and narrative class full of interior architecture students at RISD—and from the jump I felt seen, heard, and supported (something I unfortunately did not feel in many of my studio architecture courses at Brown).
The community she was able to foster was welcoming and tangible. Although RISD and Brown have quite different teaching philosophies and environments, I never felt othered in her class (even if my work and attitude varied vastly from students around me). When I encountered logistical difficulties in the cross-registration process, she always expressed concern and saw to it that things were sorted for me (beginning with being able to swipe into the course building on the first day of class). When my partner for our course final project dropped off the face of the earth, she was incredibly accommodating and kind, shifting timelines and expectations while still encouraging me to produce great work.
One of my fondest memories from undergrad actually came as a direct consequence of her course, too: we were to cut a bell pepper into architectural views, create hand drawings, trace them digitally, and then reimagine their spatial purpose in a digital rendering. I remember rushing to my nearest dining hall before class the day the assignment began, asking a dining hall staff member if they happened to have a full bell pepper in the basement. To my surprise, the dining manager came up with a pepper and skeptically asked me why I needed it. I explained to her, exasperated, that I needed it for a RISD course I was enrolled in. We became fast friends as I frequented the dining hall through the rest of the semester, and when May approached, I gave her (the manager) a final print out of the work I produced with the pepper. She lovingly found a spot for it on her office wall, and when I returned the next semester for her help again with a different course, she jumped for joy explaining to me that she had showed off my work to a group of astonished Brown alumni during reunion weekend early that summer.
Beyond the fond memories, the kindness, and the care Yaminay showed me during my time with her, I also found her to be an incredibly apt teacher. One with a sharp wit, a present design sensibility, and a strong point of view. During my time in design education, I saw educators time and time again belittle students in the name of producing good designers. Yaminay, truly, opened my eyes to a different approach: one that still set high expectations and hopes for her students, but one that truly uplifted rather than knocked students down.
I could not recommend her enough. She is a special one.

Yaminay is a brilliant teacher and mentor. She provides thorough feedback and is sensitive to her students’ individual needs. For example, she gave me detailed feedback on my portfolio and statement of purpose for grad school, which I found very useful. Her prompt reply and willingness to share multiple resources reflect that she sincerely cares about her students.

What I love the most about Yaminay's pedagogy is the way she centers people and their stories in the design process. She has extensive experience in working with communities to serve them through art and design. She is also very compassionate and is concerned about students' wellbeing outside of the class. She leads with kindness. I took an architectural drawing and representations class from her in the past and learned both the conventions in the field and when to follow vs. break them. While working on my architecture portfolio, she has also helped me have a unique voice and branding. Highly recommend!

Yaminay was my professor for a RISD Interior Architecture course. She was extremely insightful and knowledgable in drawing/design concepts and provided great feedback on my projects and assignments. She brought in interesting guest speakers, held engaging and thoughtful discussions, and was very encouraging when our software was being difficult. I would highly recommend Yaminay if you are interested in hearing well-informed, perceptive ideas and thinking.

What I love the most about the way Yaminay teaches is how she centers people and their stories in the design process. She has extensive experience in working with communities to serve them through art and design. She is also very compassionate and is concerned about students' wellbeing outside of the class. She leads with kindness. I took an architectural drawing and representations class from her and learned both the conventions in the field and when to follow vs. break them. While working on my architecture portfolio, she has also helped me have a unique voice and branding. Highly recommend!

Yaminay is a fantastic tutor! Not only is she very knowledgeable, she is very patient and gentle with her students, and most valuable of all, she is able to listen carefully to each student's needs and ideas and goes out of her way to help them from a special perspective!
She was very helpful to me when I was her student! Not only is she an accomplished artist, but she is very good at guiding her students to develop their own artistic perspectives and providing diverse advice.
In short, she is very trustworthy!

I am pleased to recommend Professor Yaminay, with whom I had the privilege of working as a teaching assistant at the Rhode Island School of Design for the course "Digital Representation and Narratives." Throughout this experience, I was consistently impressed by Yaminay’s depth of knowledge and her ability to connect art to storytelling in meaningful ways.
Yaminay is exceptionally skilled at lesson planning, using each moment of lecture time effectively to engage students and deepen their understanding. She answers student questions with patience and thoughtfully guides them along their creative journeys. Her global experiences have given her a unique perspective on art, enabling her to bridge Eastern and Western artistic traditions with ease.
Yaminay also has an impressive talent for translating design concepts into digital formats and teaching students how to render these concepts effectively. Her expertise in digital systems is invaluable, providing students with a practical and impactful learning experience.
In summary, Yaminay’s extensive knowledge, careful preparation, and genuine dedication to her students make her a remarkable educator. I highly recommend her for any position that values these qualities.

Yaminay cultivates a classroom environment where students can improve their technical design skills while feeling supported both academically and personally. Her willingness to provide supplemental demos or to sit with students 1-on-1 to clear up any confusions was essential to a positive learning experience--one of the most empathetic professors I have had at RISD.