Yvette Rock is a visual artist using multiple artistic expressions, including painting, drawing, object-making, and performance. object-maker, photographer. She explores how the passage of time intersects with history, identity, memory, motherhood, nature, and physical spaces. Her works often connect to her relationship with the people and landscape of Detroit, where she has resided for over two decades. Rock received a BFA from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1997 and an MFA in painting from University of Michigan in 1999, and she has been a teaching artist in Detroit public schools since 1999. She continues to partner with organizations to bring visual arts to children today, and she is currently pursuing a K-12 Visual Arts Teaching Certification from College for Creative Studies to deepen her knowledge and approach to teaching. In 2012, Rock founded Live Coal Gallery, LLC, a small social venture in Detroit and recipient of the 2017, 2019, and 2021 Knight Arts Challenges. In 2022, she transitioned the community-based work of her business into Live Coal, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to transform lives and neighborhoods through art, community development, and education.

Live Coal was legally formed in 2022 to continue and grow the community-based work began by Live Coal Gallery, LLC, which was started in 2012 with the belief that access to art, art materials, art spaces, and artists are vital to the vibrancy and health of individuals, families, and communities. It is with this conviction and purpose that the non-profit organization was founded. Live Coal continues serving Detroit residents and visitors through multi-disciplinary, traditional, and non-traditional approaches to art, community development, and education. Its two main programs are The RED and Detroit rePatched. The RED is an interactive children’s art museum in Detroit’s Piety Hill neighborhood that will re-open in summer 2024. Its programming is centered around children being artists and features a permanent collection of children’s art. Detroit rePatched is an arts-infused greenspace and art hub situated on approximately three acres of land in Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood. Detroit rePatched connects art and land, art and people, and art and home.