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Amber Sevilla

2x

Finalist

General information

Hobbies & Interests

  • Painting and Studio Art
  • Drawing And Illustration
  • Graphic Design
  • Interior Design
  • Fashion
  • Collaging
  • Journaling
  • Knitting
  • Shopping And Thrifting
  • Crafting
  • Calligraphy
  • Photography and Photo Editing
  • Ice Skating
  • Babysitting And Childcare
  • Guitar
  • Music
  • Art
  • Ceramics And Pottery
  • Teaching
  • Tutoring
  • Art History

Reading

  • Adventure
  • Mystery
  • Fantasy
  • Young Adult
  • Realistic Fiction
  • Romance
  • Science Fiction
  • Action
  • Crafts
  • Epic
  • How-To
  • Historical
  • Family
  • Magical Realism
  • Literary Fiction
  • Literature
  • Retellings
  • Short Stories

I read books daily.

Bio

Hi! I’m Amber, a Filipina visual artist from Queens, NYC. I’m studying at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art as a Fine Arts major. In my current work I’m fascinated by ideas of relational aesthetics and ways people can be connected through art. I aim to create installation work that brings people together and into conversation. I’ve had the honor of seeing my artwork showcased in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (over 10 Gold Keys and 1 National Gold Medal with the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition), the United States Capitol (Congressional Art Competition), and the MoMA (Manhattan Borough Arts Festival). I’m a 2025 Youngarts Winner, and have been featured in QNS Newspaper and Seeds of the League Magazine. I’m also grateful to be a recipient of the 2025 Studio Institute Scholarship, 2025 School Art League Trustees Scholarship, and 2025 Silver Seniors Scholarship courtesy of the Art and Design Alumni Association. I also have a huge passion for education, and am working to be an art teacher in the city. I’ve been in some kind of art class for most of my life and it’s always felt like home. As a teacher I strive to create the same environment for my students. I’ve been a teacher in Queens public schools with Studio Institute and Queens Public Libraries with Teen Art Salon. I was an intern at the Whitney Museum of American Art where I had the privilege of facilitating events and creating spaces for the art community of NYC, especially younger people, to come together.

Education

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

Bachelor's degree program

2025 – 2029

Majors:
  • Fine and Studio Arts

Art and Design High School

High School

2021 – 2025

Miscellaneous

Desired degree level:
Doctoral degree program (PhD, MD, JD, etc.)
Majors of interest:
Fine and Studio Arts, Design and Applied Arts, Visual and Performing Arts, General, Museology/Museum Studies, Education, General
Medical school interest:
No

Career

  • Studio Assistant to Artist Maya Man

    Arts · HEART Studio

    Jan 2025 – Present

  • Intern, Whitney Youth Insights Leaders

    Museums and Institutions · Whitney Museum of American Art

    Jan 2024 – Jan 2025

  • Illustrator Intern

    Arts · Cadey: Child Psychology Resources and App

    Jan 2023 – Jan 2023

  • Small Business Owner

    Arts · Handmade plushie business (ayveegravy.etsy.com)

    Jan 2020 – Jan 2021

  • Spring Intern

    tutoring · The Learning Spot

    Jan 2023 – Jan 2023

  • Youth Insights Artist

    Museums and Institutions · Whitney Museum of American Art

    Jan 2023 – Jan 2023

  • Art Teacher

    Education · Sunnyside Community Services

    Jan 2023 – Jan 2023

Miscellaneous

Dream career field:
Arts
Dream career goals:
Art Curator/Art Educator
Has nursing license:
No

Future Interests

  • Advocacy
  • Volunteering
  • Entrepreneurship
Jacob Kelly Memorial Scholarship for Arts and Music
The phrase “you're so sensitive” has been constant throughout my life. I've always been a highly emotional person. I hated how I couldn't help but feel everything to the extreme. In middle school, things started to change. I was in an art class where I was encouraged by my teacher to create artwork that incorporated an emotional theme. I took my feelings and visualized them into a painted self portrait. The result made me prouder than anything else I had made before. I realized I was taking my emotions and building something positive, turning them into something meaningful. As I took more classes with teachers encouraging me to make emotional work, it turned into a practice, and I now constantly create paintings that draw on my emotions. One of the paintings I’ve submitted here is titled “do you really believe that?”. It visualizes the difficulty I experienced with positive affirmation and self image at the beginning of my therapy journey. Taking the anguish I was experiencing and being able to turn it into something beautiful was transformative in increasing my confidence. And embracing this aspect of myself through art has not only led to a lot of self love, but outside recognition as well; this piece was a part of my Youngarts National Winner portfolio, and was one of my Scholastic Gold Keys in 2025. I’m passionate about painting because it gives purpose to an aspect of myself that I've hated for a long time. The malleability of paint and its range in gesture and opacity lends itself so beautifully to emotional work. I have many possible ways to use paint to communicate how I’m feeling. Painting enables me to use my intense emotions for something beautiful and important, instead of as a source of shame. Painting is also important to me because I know it can do many different things for different people; to communicate, critique, release, and so much more. But the freedom I have within painting is not accessible to everyone. I have been so fortunate to be in free art classes consistently, to have access to supplies, to have encouraging teachers within my public schools who helped me to learn about myself through the technique of painting. There are many young artists who do not have access to the resources, teaching, or welcoming spaces that they need to make what they desire. I’m working towards being a New York City public school art teacher with a classroom that amplifies creativity and seeks to uplift young artists. I want to help make the art world as accessible as possible. The medium of painting has brought so much joy and revelation to my life, which was only possible because of the accessible art education I received. I want generations of young artists to have that same access I had to art, to all the mediums they love and will discover themselves in. In my time at the Cooper Union as a Fine Art major, I am using all the facilities I have at my disposal to deeply explore myself and build a strong foundation as an artist. I will take all that I have learned with me to my classroom, where I can support my students using the experience and knowledge I have acquired. This scholarship will provide invaluable support as I continue my education. I love art because it has been a vital part of my journey of self discovery and loving who I am. I am so excited to share that love and discovery with generations of younger artists to come.
Matt Preziose Creative Scholarship
“do you really believe that?” is a painting visualizing the difficulty I experienced with positive affirmation and self image at the beginning of my therapy journey. Taking the anguish I was feeling at the time and turning it into something beautiful was transformative in increasing my confidence. Freedom of creative expression is important to me because it gives purpose to an aspect of myself that I've hated for a very long time. I've always been very emotional, and art allows me to turn difficult emotions into something positive and meaningful. It’s also important because I know it allows people to communicate, critique, release, and so much more. But that freedom is not present for everyone. I have been fortunate to have art classes, access to supplies, and encouraging teachers who gave me space to explore myself and my emotions through art. But there are so many aspiring creatives who do not have access to the resources, teaching, or welcoming environment that they need. I’m working towards being an art teacher with a classroom that uplifts young creatives. I want generations of young artists to come to have the same freedoms and ability to discover themselves through art that I do. As a Fine Artist at the Cooper Union, I am using all the facilities I have at my disposal to deeply explore myself as an artist, and build a strong foundation as a creative. I will take all that I have learned with me to my classroom, where I can support my students using the experience and knowledge I have acquired. This scholarship will provide invaluable support as I continue my education. Freedom of creative expression is unendingly important, and I committed to spending my life ensuring that as many young creatives have it as possible.
Kim Moon Bae Underrepresented Students Scholarship
A running inside joke in almost every Filipino family is that all of us are nurses or nannies. At the core of this is a solid truth - nurturing and caring are extremely important to Filipino culture. Filipino homes and families are welcoming spaces of comfort for everyone from strangers to blood relatives. Through my arts education, I will extend the nurturing love in Filipino culture by creating welcoming spaces for students of color to pursue art. Growing up, I was never discouraged from wanting to be an artist because Filipino culture is already immersed in the pursuit of the arts. I was raised in an extremely loving and accepting space that gave me the encouragement to grow my artistic passions in spite of external difficulties. I know many other artists of color do not have the same support, and face systemic challenges in growing into a professional artist. As an art teacher, I want to provide support for them. I’ve always wanted to be an art teacher. There’s a childhood video of me standing on my couch in front of a makeshift podium, giving instructions on how to make sock puppets. I’ve taken every opportunity possible to teach art as much as I can even before I earn my degree by reaching past the information given through school to find increasingly advanced methods of expanding my knowledge. I’ve been an art teacher with the Teen Art Salon nonprofit, with Studio in a School, and as an intern at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Through these opportunities, I have learned how to establish artistic education curriculums and effective ways to teach young artists from the ground up. Taking something so important, something that has brought so much love and light to my life, and being able to pass it to a future generation through the skills I have gained feeds a part of me in a way that nothing else can. However, while in these spaces, I’ve been able to see up close and personal the barriers that young people of color face in the arts. The difficulties don’t stop with just lack of support from family; even with all the progress we’ve made, institutional spaces like art colleges and museums have an expectation of a foundation in art that is colonial and eurocentric, and do not hold artists of color to the same esteem as their other peers. As an art teacher, I will have a classroom that provides relentless support to artists of color. I will extend the Filipino care and nurturing that has always been with me to my students. I’m now studying at the Cooper Union, persistently honing my practice to develop a solid foundation that will allow me to best support students who would not be supported otherwise. After I graduate from Cooper, I will pursue a Masters in Art Education and become an art teacher in a public school in New York City. Receiving this scholarship will help pave the way for my education, invaluable support in my journey to provide support to others. I will be like my mother who shares her resources running a nonprofit for unhoused men in Queens, my grandmother who always gives out food, my Titas who open their homes to gatherings and clothing drives. My identity as a Filipino woman will continue to affect me in the future because I come from a tradition, a culture, a genealogy, of nurturing others, and in my gratitude I will do everything I can to provide the same care to my students.
Alexander de Guia Memorial Scholarship
I’m never not in an art class. In elementary and middle school I always had an art elective, every summer I’m in an art program, and now I’m at the High School of Art and Design, where I study fine art every day. For my entire life, art studios have been places for me to grow, explore who I am, and create what I want. I’ve always belonged in an art studio. There’s nothing more I want than to create those places for future generations. I want to be an art teacher that creates a studio that is welcoming, a place for artists to belong, because I’ve always had that space. I’ve only recently realized that this desire to be a teacher is extremely Filipino. I’ve known from a young age through our huge family gatherings and my grandma’s constant dinner invites and all the gifts from Titas at church that hospitality is a Filipino value. We have a culture of giving. But I never thought I was a part of this culture, because I want to be a teacher, and I thought of teachers as merely instructors for a long time. But as I’ve worked closely with art teachers and seen the way they give themselves to their students, and work tirelessly to make their studios welcoming spaces, I’ve realized that the core of being a teacher is hospitality and giving. So my aching desire to be a teacher is extremely Filipino. I’m second generation, and I often feel distant from the culture, always aching to be more connected to where I come from. I look constantly for things within myself that are Filipino, to give me a sense of pride and belonging. It’s been amazing for me to realize that my love of supporting others is a part of my Filipino blood - I am a piece of the beautiful tapestry of care that Filipinos weave. I feel so encouraged, bolstered, and inspired in my journey to be a teacher, knowing that I am backed by so many Filipinos that also dedicate their lives to caring for others. My father is a pastor, and also runs a program called Table of Nations where people from all over our neighborhood come together and share a meal. My mother has been a stay at home mom for most of my life, and recently has branched out to work part time as a teacher and also founded a nonprofit that provides meals to people in our neighborhood who are unhoused. My Tito Gray is an art director, and always asks how my art is going, giving me deafening high fives each time I tell him I won an award. He’s lending me his apartment for my 18th birthday party, no problem. I feel so much pride in my family when I think about how giving and selfless they are. With the help of this scholarship, I will be earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and eventually get my Masters in Arts Education. I want to develop a strong foundation and explore myself as an artist first, so that I have a range of experiences and skills that will make me a better teacher. I want to support my students tirelessly, to make sacrifices every day so they have a studio they belong in, a space to grow as artists and individuals. I am extremely proud to have the fundamental Filipino values of hospitality and care, and am eager to put them into use to support my students the way that Filipinos have been doing for the world for generations.
Valorena Publishing & Cocoa Kids Collection Scholarship
I have been making art since I was old enough to hold a crayon. Having good and caring art teachers has always been invaluable to growing my skills and developing my artistic voice. Because of how instrumental welcoming art spaces and kind art teachers has been to my experience, it is so important to me to be able to find ways to pay that forward, and create those kinds of spaces for younger artists. It is also important to me to make sure that younger artists have the same kind, caring, and knowledgeable teachers that I had. I have realized that I can accomplish those things by being an art teacher. I started volunteering at my church in the sixth grade, and over time I have realized that I have a true passion for being able to share my love of art with kids. Every Sunday I help kids to explore their imaginations and express themselves through various crafts, and I’ve realized that it gives me a joy that is matched by little else. I began to seek out opportunities to really explore if teaching art is the path for me. In the summer of 2023, I had the absolutely amazing opportunity to be an intern through Studio in a School at a public school in Sunnyside, Queens. I worked there as an art teacher, and the experience was completely eye opening. During mock lessons in our training, I realized that I had a real gift for being able to talk about art. I have been studying drawing and painting for my whole life, and through my studies I have acquired a lot of knowledge that I am so eager to be able to share with others. The mock lessons helped me to realize that even though I'm normally an anxious person in front of a large group, when I am talking about art, my love for it makes me articulate and confident in a way that I wasn’t before. Working directly with the kids was a dream. I was with a rowdy bunch of second graders that were always so full of excitement to create collages and paint pictures. Through these experiences, it became extremely clear to me that being an art teacher is a magnetic calling. Winning the Valorena Publishing & Cocoa Kids Collection Scholarship would be an amazing step towards getting the education that I need in order to be an art teacher. I want to be able to get an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts, in order to truly explore and understand my own artistic voice so that I am a better teacher for my students who will be finding their own voices. After I graduate, I plan to pursue a Masters degree in Art Education. I want to learn everything I can so that I can be the best possible art teacher for my students. I am also currently in an arts high school, and winning this scholarship would be so helpful in purchasing the art supplies I need in order to continue furthering my education and honing my technical skills. Without the creative and safe art spaces I had access to growing up, I would not be the artist I am today. I am so excited to be able to support the next generation of amazing artists. They deserve every bit of the support that I was so generously given from my teachers, and I am working hard to make sure they receive it!
Hobbies Matter
Every morning before my dad left for work, he would take me out of my crib and place me in my mother's arms. For the rest of the morning, she would read to me, going through the same stack of books every day. I have been reading ever since then, and that's a big reason why I love it. I grew up going to the library every week and a half, finishing a book a day, and always having a book on me. Books are familiar and comforting because they have been a part of my life for so long. Getting completely lost in an incredible story, clinging on to every last word, makes me feel like a little kid again, tucked up into a ball in the corner of her couch. Books are also comforting because they almost always have happy endings. Even if everything isn't working out in my life, it's going well in the book, and that gives me a little hope. I also enjoy reading because it's so enthralling that it provides me with an escape from my life. When I read a good story, the rest of the world fades away. Suddenly I'm unearthing age old family secrets or parkouring across rooftops or seeing the love of my life for the first time. Reading allows me to get caught up in other people's petty dramas and embarrassing experiences instead of my own. Lasty, I enjoy reading because it makes me feel seen. I read "They Could Have Named Her Anything", by Stephanie Jiminez, I was ecstatic because the main character, a Latina high schooler named Maria, was so similar to me. She lived in Queens, New York City, and traveled on the subway for an hour everyday in order to get to her high school in Manhattan, which was an environment that she had to heavily adapt to because it was so different from life in her apartment with her family. As a teenage girl of color who lives in an apartment with her family and takes the train every morning to get to her high school in the city, I share the exact same experience. Reading that book felt like the author had written her story especially for me. I felt thoroughly seen and understood. Reading is a beautiful thing because it has the ability to make someone feel like they belong and are understood, even if it's just within the pages of a book.
Amber Sevilla Student Profile | Bold.org