A Letter to Prospective Students
Everyone’s perspective is worth exploring.
The most meaningful teaching I have experienced happens when a group of people creates space for one another through genuine curiosity. In that kind of environment, learning becomes a shared process. The program is designed for anyone who has demonstrated a serious commitment to their practice but is looking for a community of peers who can continue to challenge and deepen that commitment.
Becoming a painter involves both developing technical skills and learning how those skills become a way of thinking, questioning, and paying attention. The school provides a forum for rigorous critical dialogue grounded in the field of painting, fostering sustained engagement with both the practice and the ideas that shape it.
What is meant by “self-regard”?
Art and literature are not only beautiful and engaging, they also invite us to explore who we are in the world. They encourage us to recognize the many layers of our experience: personal, cultural, historical, and social. I see painting as a tool of discovery. Self-regard means allowing for our own lived experiences to inform how we come to make and value art.
My teaching is built around creating an environment where every student’s perspective is welcomed and thoughtfully considered. Instead of asking whether a painting is simply “good” or “bad,” we begin by asking what it is doing already and how to build from there. From a place of curiosity, artists often discover that their work develops with greater confidence, clarity, and freedom.
The International School of Painting and Self-Regard takes its name from Toni Morrison’s essay collection “The Source of Self-Regard.” Like Morrison’s writing, the school values how the personal lived experience of each individual is foundational to what it will mean for them to become an artist.
I have consistently found that learning alongside people from different cultures, experiences, and artistic backgrounds creates one of the richest environments for growth. As a graduate school teacher I have personally gained the most from learning along side and with my students. I started the school to continue this work.
