Our Philosophy

In our studio, we’ve painted a mural of the creative process, visually represented as the road artists travel along while creating. Quite frankly, it applies to what humans experience when working on or through just about anything. Seriously, we’ve been told “That mural is a philosophy on life!” But what do we mean by creative process?

Let’s start by unpacking the difference between product and process-based art. Product art is a finished result replicating a set of instructions to get to there. It tends to have a right or wrong way to work. We often refer to this as “cookie cutter art” or art for the masses. While there is some good skillset learning in there, it’s just not us. Process-based art is when the end product is not the focus, and the goal is solely about the experience people have while they're creating.

We are at the intersection of the two. We firmly believe there isn’t one way of working, and we value everyone’s ideas and process. The creative process isn’t linear and artist take different approaches to attain a finished piece. It’s why our mural is depicted as a bumpy road, full of twists and turns and surprises. It’s what sets us apart. It’s the way in which we deliver information and pull from students their capabilities while challenging them to think critically.

We allow for a whole lot of creative expression while teaching the fundamentals of visual art. 99% of our lessons are college-level appropriated to the different class age groups. We encourage students to express themselves freely through visual art (process-based) while helping them to develop their fine art work through the use of a variety of mediums and techniques (product-based).  We teach the foundations of drawing and painting, foster an appreciation of art and artists, and allow for finding one’s artistic voice and personal style.  We won’t have students create cookie-cutter art nor copy paintings from books.  We teach students how to see the world around them and apply their learning to their work.  Classes by age rather than skill level so that each person is able to reach his or her full potential.

Register for a class here.