SAIC SHOWS 2026 GRADUATE EXHIBITIONS

Graduates

SAIC SHOWS 2026 GRADUATE EXHIBITIONS

Christine Vermeer

Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts Degree

Low-Residency MFA Exhibition

christine.nicole.v@gmail.com

christinevermeer.com

Christine Vermeer is a Canadian oil painter who has developed an innovative practice of painting on aluminum foil. Her work deals with themes of place, nostalgia, and listening, shaped by figuration, plein-air landscapes, and abstraction.

Serving as the Arts Collective Coordinator and Studio Associate at Calvin University, where she also teaches courses on arts and culture, Vermeer is an educator invested in cross-disciplinary creation and the liberal arts. A graduate of Calvin University (BFA, 2020), Vermeer has been building her practice in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Select exhibitions include “The Path Home” (solo show) 2022, “AllArt” 2024, “House Show” (solo show) 2025, and an upcoming duo show at the Center Art Gallery (Grand Rapids) in November of 2026.

As an MFA candidate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Vermeer has focused on childhood photographs as source material, considering how we communicate over time, and how we interact with the landscape. Her degree has been supported by various educational scholarships through the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Oxbow School of Art and Artist Residency, as well as Calvin University.

Christine Vermeer - Shade of Wind

Shade of Wind, 2026, oil on aluminum, wind, 10 x 40 in.

Christine Vermeer - Fast Asleep

Fast Asleep, 2025, oil on aluminum composite panel, 18 x 24 in.

Christine Vermeer - Meditation on Listening

Meditation on Listening, 2025, oil on aluminum, 8 x 17 ft., photo by Aimée Suárez

Christine Vermeer - Morning on Belle Isle

Morning on Belle Isle, 2026, oil on aluminum, 4 x 6 ft.

Christine Vermeer’s practice is meditative and intuitive, with active response to the texture of the paint, the compositional elements of vintage photographs and previous paintings, and the many facets of the painting support. Her innovative technique for painting on aluminum allows her to utilize its texture and reflective surface as a support for painting, forcing interaction between the painting and the viewer. Vermeer engages deeply with her subject matter through sensation and repetition, allowing her to unpack temporality and to make visible what is invisible. Often working with childhood photographs, Vermeer is aware of the connection to the original photographer: their place is taken first by the artist and then in turn by the viewer. In a collaboration over time, the artist seeks to listen to her subjects and their photographers.

Through the joyful and sensorial act of painting, Christine Vermeer hopes to tap into the richness of life. With an understanding that painting is an act of listening to muse, which is the Holy Spirit, Vermeer is compelled to paint in truth and to learn to understand the truth more deeply. She is convicted by hope, and wishes to share that sweetness, even in paintings of lamentation. Furthermore, Vermeer both seeks restoration and hopes to be an agent of it. To her, this looks like being honest about what is broken, so that we might learn to mourn it, and being authentic in joyfulness, so that we might learn to express it.