Welcome to a New Kind of Art School.
When I was 17, I was very torn about going to art school.
I was a practical kid with very practical parents, but I loved making things. Mostly, I loved to draw. When I took the leap to go to art school it was scary as hell. And even though I loved it, art school never made sense to me. I always felt like the one kid in the room asking, 'But how do I pay for this? How do I make this real?'
I struggled with this for years, but kept going. I got a job. Kept making my art. Discovered I loved teaching. Did my MFA. That's where the questions got bigger, and messier, and weirder.
As I began teaching in higher education, I felt like the way we were training young artists made no sense. It presented such a narrow path of what was possible - what to aspire to - what success looked like. It made me doubt my value as both an artist and a teacher.
After 7 years as an art student and 15 years teaching art at every possible level - undergrads, grads, high school students, and everything in between - I see an opportunity to build something better.
A year ago, when I left academia to work as a coach, I wrote a newsletter about my problems with the current art school model. As a college educator, I noticed my students had big questions that were going unanswered:
What does it mean to be an artist these days?
Why should I go into debt to study art?
How can art-making be a sustainable part of my life?
And I don't think college students are the only ones with questions. I've asked myself these same questions in recent years. What kind of conversations do I want to have about my work? What does the world need right now? What are all the ways we can show up as artists outside of just selling things that hang on walls?
Over the last year, I've talked to hundreds of you about your creative aspirations and challenges. Turns out, you have questions too.
You want to develop your voices, but you're overcome with self-doubt.
You want to stay motivated, but you're freakin' overwhelmed.
You want to engage in thoughtful discussion about making things, but you don't know where to find it.
But more importantly, you want to take your creative work seriously, to actualize your ideas, and going back to "art school" is not an option. Especially during a pandemic. You're not alone on this one.
I'm here to say I get it. And I've made something for you.
I tried to build the art school I wanted to see in the world - a school that's accessible and focused. A school that makes the process of art-making less opaque and more tangible. A school that's about building you up rather than breaking you down. A school that won't put you in debt. And a school that creates space to ask messy questions.
So I gave it a try and here's what I got:
Welcome to A Mighty Practice.
A new kind of art school.
Psst: if you’re picking up what I’m putting down, sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter, A Mighty Practice:
