Annemarie BEVELANDER

1946 - 2022

ANNEMARIE (MIEKE) BEVELANDER Annemarie (Mieke) Bevelander August 11, 1946 - December 17, 2021. Sadly, Mieke Bevelander passed away at Powell River Hospital after a hard battle with COPD. Her brother and sister-in-law were by her side. Mieke was a passionate and outspoken individual, a prominent Canadian visual artist, and exceptional art instructor who will be missed by family, friends and the many people she met over the years. Mieke was born in Holland and immigrated to Canada with her family in 1953. Her career started in high school in Port Credit, ON when she determined to become an artist. To that end she moved to and studied in the Hague, Holland where she graduated with a diploma of fine arts from the Royal Academy of Art (Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten), completed independent studio work at the Free Academy of Art, and was a research assistant at the Netherlands Institute for Art History. On her return to Canada, Mieke obtained a permanent Teaching Certificate and taught public school for several years before continuing her studies at the University of Guelph where she graduated with distinction from their Honours program in Fine Arts. As a working artist she also taught art classes at the University of Guelph, University of Waterloo, Art Gallery of Stratford, Kitchener/Waterloo Art Gallery, Cambridge Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Brant (Brantford), Toronto School of Art, Art Gallery of Ontario and St. Thomas Serenity House Hospice. Over the course of her career, Mieke had one woman shows in the Netherlands, Scotland, Italy, Guelph, and Toronto in addition to many group shows across Canada. Her drawings and paintings have appeared on various books as well as in magazines and journals such as Exile, Brick and the Malahat Review. Many private and public collections own her work. Later in her career, Mieke helped many individuals through her art therapy classes, which she considered some of her most important work. Mieke was also very interested in philosophy and psychology and collected many books on the subjects. She saw beauty in all aspects of nature, and collected many stones everywhere she went along with plants, flowers, bones and anything else that was uniquely curious. Throughout her career Mieke travelled extensively but she always considered Southern Ontario and particularly Toronto her home. In 1995, she moved to London, ON to provide palliative care to her mother. She then moved to Salt Spring Island, BC for a few years but the longing for close friends and her connections to Toronto drew her back to Ontario. Mieke's connections to her brother, Jan, and family in BC were strong and she visited often and had the pleasure to explore the coast on Jan's vessel the MV Curve of Time. Her time on the west coast proved very inspirational and many of her most memorable paintings depict coastal scenery. In 2017, when her health started failing, Mieke moved permanently to Powell River to be with her BC family. Mieke was predeceased by her parents Ferdinand and Geiske Anna Bevelander, Aaron D. F. Bevelander (nephew) and Ron Carter-Bevelander (brother-in-law). She is survived by her brother Jan (spouse Marilynn, daughter Kirsten), her brother Pedro (wife Louisa, son Sebastian, daughter Miebet), her sister Sarina (daughter Cali), her brother Theodore (wife Maryanne, sons Shawn and Lucas, daughter Laura), her sister Yvonne and several great-nieces and nephews. Mieke is also survived by our American relations Sijtze and Maike de Jong and Mieke's long-time friends Jane and Tony Urquhart, Diane Keating, Judith Carson, Donna D'Ambrosio-Bevelander and Teo Dragonieri and family. Mieke was cremated December 21, 2021. Her remains will be laid to rest beside her parents in Christ Church Cemetery, Port Stanley, ON. Mieke, we hope the next dimension holds some marvelous adventures and much beauty for you. A memorial will be held in the spring. For more information, please contact Jan Bevelander at j.bevelanderprbc@gmail.com