philosophy

We believe art is intrinsic to us. Everyone is uniquely creative. We respect and take
care of individual’s difference in progress, characteristic and preference.

While we recognize that many of us will not end up pursuing careers as working artists,
we operate under the assumption that everyone is fully an artist while in my art space.
Solid fundamental training will be provided to those fresh in our art workshop, and more
personal guidance will be given with experiences gained, which in turn, will help you to
develop your own art style through further explorations on different experimental exercises
and subjects.

We believe strongly in the rigors of fundamental art training. But just as training in
arithmetic or grammar alone cannot produce mathematicians or poets, training in drawing
skills and color theory alone cannot produce artists. Thus, we believe it is very important
that everyone understand, from the very beginning, that being an artist in the twenty-first
century has less to do with the rote performance of technical exercises and everything to
do with a deep, sustained, exploration of a personal way of seeing.

We attempt to strike a balance between emphasizing the importance of technical skill, self-
discipline, and critical thinking, on the one hand, we will foster your search for personal
content.

Aside from practical studio work, we also believe it is vitally important for us, whether
beginner or the advance, to have a working knowledge of art history and contemporary art
issues. It is not enough for us to know how to stretch and prime a canvas, mix pigments,
and apply them to the canvas. In order to sensibly approach painting today, we must have
an understanding of the history of art, the discourse surrounding the “death of painting,”
issues posed by digital media, and the like.

Ultimately, we believe our mission is to teach you how to see, the essence of what we do
as artists and as art instructors. We believe that the serious pursuit of art practice has
benefits that are important, regardless of what career paths we eventually take.

In an age of commercial media over-stimulation, art teaches us to slow down and take
note of our senses. It teaches us to take aesthetic pleasure in the products of human
creativity and to reflect on that pleasure. It teaches us to think broadly about the
possibilities of creativity.

It teaches us to think and plan critically, but also to experiment and take risks. And most
importantly, art gives us a deeper awareness of ourselves and makes us better, more
reflective, more sensitive human beings.