How has your mentoring practice changed over time?
I didn’t make a conscious decision to mentor. I simply placed myself in a position to provide assistance to any student who would like further feedback.
Technology has made it possible for me to communicate back and forth with many artists, students and collaborators in a very effective manner. Being able to read at length gives people the opportunity to digest and reply.
I don’t teach and never have. During Grad School at Yale University, I opted out as a teacher’s assistant and never had an opportunity to teach as an undergrad at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. My focus at the time was to develop my visual language and nothing else. Of course, there are benefits in teaching, but it was not something I considered at the time. I also didn’t have an apartment or place to live, because I didn’t want to think about day to day living obligations at all because they impeded on my focus at the time.
So, I hid and lived inside the schools’ studios, or wherever I could rest...
These circumstances eventually changed with time— and I am not in that survival mode anymore. But that does not change my ambition to push boundaries, and not become complacent with what I do. It is no different for musicians, filmmakers, writers, scientists or any other individual who utilizes their creativity to pursue any endeavor. I opted out of teaching in graduate school to focus the precious time we had on my development as an artist. So, I don’t have any familiarity with teaching in a classroom in any capacity. Mentoring compensates for that in many ways.
One needs to have perspective in order to provide constructive feedback. It is essential to have a very formal exchange with students. Having boundaries is part of this exchange. Feedback is about listening and building a conversation, but also knowing when to hold back.
(For example) it may not be constructive to expose someone who is developing their visual vocabulary about marketing their work. Those things can be dangerous for a student’s development—exposing a student who is still developing can confuse and give them false conclusions about their work in the market, before they understand the difference between creativity and commerce.
Creativity is very fragile, and takes time to cultivate and maintain.
It isn’t about assembly line marketing. Most people misinterpret Andy Warhol’s concept of creating an art “factory” for a market. They take it at face value, when he was actually critiquing the strategy that automaker Henry Ford had popularized.
My first experience with the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, a long term Art Residency retreat, left me with a very positive impression on how an artist can develop in an environment with their peers, sans the need to focus on commerce or art markets. I decided to extend this liberating moment by pursuing more long term art residencies when I finished my MFA at Yale University. I traveled to upstate NY for Art Omi, then Studio Museum in Harlem, Headlands in Sausalito, CA and CORE/MFAH program in Houston, TX for two years. Every aspect of the Art residency experience became an integral component in my studio practice. Travel to different cities, states, countries, and volunteering to lecture and do studio visits in local community colleges, all became part of this way of working. Every situation was a different challenge and broadened my exchange with people and communities. Mentoring equally became part of this process.
