Yvonne was born near Frankfurt (Main), Germany in 1970. She began her art journey at a very young age, and has always been encouraged to explore art by family, teachers, and friends. This exploration took her to San Francisco, where she attended the Academy of Art from 1992-1997.
She graduated with a BA in Illustration, and began her career at Pixar Animation Studios soon after.
She worked as a computer painter from 1997 – 2007, on movies such as “A Bugs Life”, “Monsters Inc.” and “Finding Nemo” (full list on Imdb). Yvonne personally worked on characters like Crush, Fillmore, and many other familiar faces, as well as on background scenes and details that served to breathe life into the animated world. During December 14th 2005 through February 2006 MoMa featured the exhibition “Pixar, 20 Years of Animation.”Yvonne Herbst was mentioned in one exhibit.
After leaving Pixar in 2007, Yvonne devoted most of her time to her three children, chickens,dogs,cats and a vegetable garden. She began to enjoy sewing, and was fascinated by the artistic craft of turning flat fabric into colorful and creative clothing for children. Through her sewing journey she discovered needle felting, and instantly fell in love with the medium. Yvonne’s artistic vision and keen eye for detail helped her quickly make a name for herself in the world of needle felting artists. Yvonne’s sculptures have found homes with people and exhibits around the globe, and have earned her a feature in a New York Times article in August 2019, “The wonderful world of needle felted animals.”
She is especially known for her lifelike owls, some of which play a part in “The World of Harry Potter” in Tokyo, Japan. She needle felted 10 life-size owls and a tarantula for the exhibit after being commissioned by Warner Bros in 2021.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 and undergoing a lumpectomy on her right side, Yvonne had to make the difficult decision to transition away from full time needle felting after completing her project with Warner Bros. While she still enjoys needle felting on a smaller scale, Yvonne has happily rediscovered her love of painting, and is excited to share her joy for the medium with the world once more.
