The mission of the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design is to provide art and design education to talented, qualified applicants – despite any economic constraints they may have. One such talented artist was Mildor Chevalier, who studied at the school from 2009 to 2011 and who has just graduated from Parsons The New School for Design in New York. Here we bring you a colorful account of Mildor’s already remarkable life story and how is passion for art has taken him from Haiti to Altos de Chavón to New York and even to China.
Haiti, Dominican Republic, Altos de Chavón, New York City, China: Mildor Chevalier—An Artist in the World by Stephen Kaplan
It’s difficult to imagine that someone from the Haitian village of La Victoire, 35 miles from Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second city, would one day stand on the Great Wall of China, doing a painting of the wall while surrounded by hundreds of curious Chinese onlookers. The amazing odyssey that brought him there is the life story of the young Haitian artist Mildor Chevalier.
Mildor recalls that his earliest art memories are of drawing pictures with a twig in the mud in the yard behind his La Victoire home. His father, a carpenter, lived there with Mildor and his four brothers and sisters; three more siblings came later. It was in the mid-1980’s, and for a poor Haitian, the possibility of studying or traveling abroad was nonexistent. In the Chevalier home, with its traditional blend of Voodoo and Catholic religious beliefs, life was prescribed, and thoughts of travel could be only a fantasy.
But there were ways. It seemed to start when one of Mildor’s sisters, Paulene, who had fled Haiti to live in the Dominican Republic, returned home after almost ten years away, bringing a vision of a future life for her beloved brother. Paulene returned to Port-au-Prince, where Mildor was studying, and urged him to consider continuing his studies in the Dominican Republic.
Mildor intensified his study of Spanish. To French and his own native Creole, he added Spanish, a Spanish as impeccable as that of anyone in his newly adopted city of residence, Santo Domingo. But making art was his true passion, and it brought him to La Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santo Domingo’s historic school of fine arts. There Mildor began his life as a painter in earnest.
It was at Bellas Artes where he first met Carlos Montesino, a Dominican painter who was both an instructor and a graduate of the Altos de Chavón School of Design, in La Romana, an affiliate of New York’s Parsons The New School for Design since 1983. Montesino recognized Mildor’s skill. His drawing ability was instinctive, but even more important, he was eager to learn, to improve. His passion for art was undeniable. Within a short time Mildor placed some of his paintings in several group shows in Santo Domingo. At one of those shows, a French businessman who was married to a Chinese woman with whom he owned art galleries in Hong Kong and Beijing, saw Mildor’s paintings.
Soon Mildor transferred to The Altos de Chavón School of Design, a residential school with intensive immersion in art. His work at Chavón developed, winning him a full scholarship for his studies there. Around the same time, the Frenchman, Guy Chagnot, now a fan of Mildor’s work, was hatching a plan to take Mildor to China to show his work there. A true entrepreneur, M. Chagnot saw a way give the Chinese, so hungry for the exotic, so recently affluent, a taste of the unique talent of this eager, affable, and extraordinarily skillful artist.
During Mildor’s senior year at Altos de Chavón, Haiti suffered its devastating earthquake. Awareness of Haiti and its terrible plight spread around the globe. Meanwhile, at Altos de Chavón, Mildor’s artwork was among the best in the senior class, and his friendship with a Swedish student at the school afforded him the opportunity to acquire English language skills. So now, in addition to becoming a recognized painter, he was speaking his fourth language.
“I sincerely thank the president of the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design, Mrs. Dominique Bludhorn, the Rector Mr. Stephen Kaplan and all the staff. The support I have received from them is unconditional and because of that I am committed to succeed.” — Mildor Chevalier
In the spring of each year, Parsons The New School for Design sends its recruitment team to the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design. An agreement between the two schools allows talented graduates of Chavón’s two-year, associate-degree program to transfer to Parsons to continue their studies as juniors. Some students pay the hefty tuition at Parsons, while a few others win highly competitive scholarships. That year, 2010, the Parsons provost made an unprecedented move and added a full scholarship for Mildor to complete his studies at Parsons in New York.
Remember the Frenchman, M. Chagnot? In the summers of 2010 and 2011, he traveled with Mildor around China, while Mildor painted commissioned murals and works for sale in Chagnot’s Hong Kong and Beijing galleries. The mob of Chinese people surrounding a six-foot-four Haitian artist painting on the Great Wall was a sight like no other. After the summers, Mildor returned to his studies at Parsons in New York, from where he has just graduated.
Haiti, Dominican Republic, New York City, China—all are so far from La Victoire. And this is just the beginning….
“My aspirations for the future is to continue to developing my art, and through my art provide something positive for a better course of human kind. I would also like to continue my art studies in other countries.” — Mildor Chevalier
Article contributed by Stephen Kaplan – Thank you Stephen!
Stephen Kaplan is the Rector of the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design
A component of The Altos de Chavón Cultural Center Foundation, a U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity, the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design has been graduating students from its two-year associate-degree program, affiliated with New York City’s prestigious Parsons “The New School For Design” since 1983.
Three majors are offered: Graphic Design, Fashion Design, and Fine Arts/Illustration. In addition, The School has developed a state-of-the-art Certificate Program in Digital Design.
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