Why Study Art at Heartwood School of Art?
The Place
My vision for the Heartwood School is to provide an art school, a rural retreat, where artists, teachers and students could come together for concentrated study and inspiration. My intent was to provide a place, a destination, of solitude and beauty to be shared with like-minded people; a place that nurtures creativity. It was to be a contemplative place that provided the ambiance for intellectual and spiritual growth and the discovery of new abilities. I found that there is a fine line between solitude and isolation. The city speaks to a different part of me but it is good to get away, beyond the suburbs, now and then to experience Nature as fully as possible. For this reason, much of the Heartwood workshop curriculum is geared toward life study and uses the natural environment as subject and inspiration.
The Staff
While it is a private, for-profit art school, Heartwood is a scaled-down version of famous craft school retreats that are supported by state and federal art grants . We are aware that we can not be all things to all people. As a small art school, our course offerings are limited but are taught by highly qualified and experienced artist/teachers and craftspeople who have university level teaching experience, a love for their craft and art media and a passion for teaching.
The Commitment
Our art study is oriented to teach the technical
and design skills necessary to transform various materials into finished
objects of beauty--we teach substance and we teach technique.
It is my view, and I hope the view of those who
teach with me, that visual art needs to be more than "self-expression".
Visual art used to be, and will become again, a universal language
that both pleases the "self" and communicates to others. For this reason,
Heartwood goes beyond recreation and is dedicated to helping students of
all ages and experience develop new skills and recognize latent talents.
James D. Mellick, Director
Heartwood School of Art