Yvonne Andersen

The Sun Gallery was created in Provincetown, Massachusetts by Andersen and her husband in 1955 following Andersen's education.[1] This exhibition was open during the summer and was a place for young and up and coming artists to have their work shown. Artists who had their work shown at The Sun Gallery include "Red Grooms, Lester Johnson, Robert and Mary Frank, Vera Williams, Tony Vevers, and Alex Katz."[7] The gallery ran from 1955-1959, during which around 100 artists were promoted.[7]

The Yellow Ball Workshop was a place for mainly children (although all ages were welcome) to learn about the processes of making animated films, which included using the materials to create their own films. Using the camera, synchronizing sound and picture, and animating the figures were among the skills taught at this workshop.[8] Andersen would always have art supplies for her children to use, and she encouraged them to invite their friends over to use them as well. This led to children regularly coming to Andersen's home, sometimes when her own children were not there, to use these art supplies.[7] A group of the children expressed desire in creating a film, which led to a two-minute film using the resources they had. Shortly after, one of the children created a script which would become The Yellow Ball Workshop's first produced film, The Amazing Colossal Man. The group worked together to create the film, and this became the basis for The Yellow Ball Workshop starting in 1963.[1][9] Between 1963-1980, the Yellow Ball Workshop produced more than a dozen films.[1] The animation program at the Rhode Island School of Design took inspiration from The Yellow Ball Workshop, and Andersen would go on to teach at this school.[2]

Andersen was approached for a job opportunity at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1979. She worked part-time for 5 years before becoming a full-time teacher, she taught "flat animation, stop motion and film special effects."[1] Later, she spent 9 years as the head of the Film and Video Department. Andersen worked at this school for a total of 23 years before retiring in 2002.[7][1]