Why did I start MonStudio.art ?

I come into my studio every day and feel inspired and I wanted to share this magical feeling. Art and creativity are so powerful and I want to instil a love of making art in other around me.

A women and a little girl hugging as they look happy standing in from of an art studio wall full or art , paint containers and books.

What led me to this, is the awareness that I was fortunate in areas that I had been taking for granted. I simply did not realize the chances I was given as a child. I have been painting and drawing for a long time and in all that time never did it occur to me that art is not a viable option in life.

Little girl standing in front of a marker drawing of a charger in a large dress — *Here I am, age 6, in front of a doodle I did on my dad’s white board at work.*

*He was so proud*.

As an adult I began to hear stories from people who were told that they could not be an artist when they were children, or that they should not choose art as a career. So many art told that art is only a gratuitous hobby and not a serious life choice.

This was shocking to me.

Why would anyone tell a child they cannot be whatever they want to be when they grown up?

I was lucky enough to have essentially been given permission to pursue art, to love art and to create and make art at a very young age. To hear that there are many kids our there that are steered away from dreams of becoming artists because adults worry that art is not a viable career or that there are no real jobs out there for artists, is simply heartbreaking.

and it just got worst…

After some more research I found that this is in fact, a HUGE issue. Author and host of the awesome podcast The Jealous Curator, Danielle Krysa, even decided to write a children’s book on exactly this problem after hearing hundreds, yes HUNDREDS of stories of people telling her they were discouraged and even forbidden from pursuing art as a career. Definitely check out her work, especially her wonderful children books HOW TO SPOT AN ARTIST and ART AND JOY.

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I went on to learn that some people even believe that art is not essential in the development of a child. That it is a distraction from their studies. Something frivolous that we should grow out of. This is a big mistake.

Art helps develop parts of a child’s mind that can go un-nurtured in most traditional educational environments. I dont blame schools or teachers, not at all!! Many are simply not equipped to properly teach the arts.

This leads me to my second realization. How fortunate I was to have had access to adequate art education at a young age. Even good…GREAT art education.

This realization came to me recently. I was driving my son Armen to school and he asked me

“Mommy how come we never do art like we do at home at school? All we do in my art class is colour pictures” and when I thought about it I realized that his homeschool French teacher (Who is wonderful FYI) was essentially given the responsibility of teaching an art class. How is she suppose to put together a proper art curriculum unless she happened to have a personal interest in art.

I quickly saw that there is a lack of proper art education out there and I thought to myself that something needs to be done about this. The universe showed me that this was possible when my daughter Grace ended up changing schools. She was enrolled in a school that has a dedicated arts program. I was so happy. It got even better when I met her new art teacher, a wonderful artist and saw that she was given a proper art studio to teach out of. A beautiful studio fully equipped with all the tools needed to teach an interesting and insightful curriculum incorporating painting, drawing, sculpture, art history and even drama..

I am able to see first hand the difference this time given to immersed oneself in the arts each week, has made in Grace, and an idea started to brew in me.

I understand that many schools cannot have dedicated art programs. They don’t have properly trained art teachers or access to an art studio. This should not stop parents from letting their children have access to art and creativity,

I realized that I can help with this!

and take it even further.

Just because we grow up, does not mean art is no longer important to us. Teenagers, young adults, mature adults, golden age adults! Anybody who has never really experienced art, who wants to experience art, this is who MonStudio.art was created for. Our goal is to create a space where art is for everyone.

So come on by and just make something!

Woman looking off into distance in front of an art studio wall