Crack open the doors of Dan IIbarra and Zak Sally’s 12-week-long evening educational program, Schoolhaus, and inside you’ll find an eclectic group of illustrators, designers, and yes, even people who build electric guitars. But despite the range in age, occupation, and previous education of the students enrolled in this creative program, there is an underlying commonality that unites the group: A love and passion for making and creating work. Here, six students share a glimpse into their experience, artistic practice, and what they’ve learned in their time at Schoolhaus.

KELSEY OSEID >>Website/Instagram

Pollen: Place you feel most creative?

Kelsey Oseid: Outdoors. I usually take a walk in the late afternoon and come home full of energy and ideas.

P: It must be a little intimidating to create new work and take your ideas from inception to final product. How have you confronted this in your time at Schoolhaus?

KO: When Schoolhaus started, my creative process was in a bad place. I was way too quick to jump into “finals.” I didn’t feel comfortable spending a lot of time in the sketching and ideation stage. I tended to stick to an idea and refuse to let anything change or develop as I went along. I’m a control freak in general, and sketching can be scary. You really have to let go in order for it to work. It’s been great talking with my teachers and classmates about how to embrace the uncertainty of the creative process. We’ve talked a lot in class about those amazing discoveries you make through play — and how to make that playtime more exploratory. Schoolhaus has really been a turning point for me in terms of identity. I’m way more willing to call myself an artist.

P: You described your time at Schoolhaus as hugely enlightening. Can you share an example or two that illustrates this? In what way has it been most enlightening?

KO: There’s a weird pressure that comes from finding an illustrative style too early in your career or life, and I think that happened for me. But Schoolhaus has totally reshaped my thinking on this: I’m not done cookin’. There is no point in your creative career where you should stop making new discoveries and growing. I was having a hard time sketching. My style felt bland and I couldn’t get my brain and hands to let go of these drawing conventions I was used to. Certain classmates suggested I change up my sketching media. I tried a few new things, but nothing clicked. Then Zak came to class with this random project he had done with his kid where they drew in white china marker on black paper. And I was like:  that’s it.

KEVIN BERGQUIST >>Website/Instagram

Pollen: Place you feel most creative?

Kevin Bergquist: My best ideas come when I’m doing really boring things and I have to entertain myself. This last summer I worked at an ice rink and I thought of all my best ideas while I was driving the zamboni.

P: The inspiration behind your work seems deeply rooted in personal experience and narrative. What does storytelling add to your work and why is it important?

KB: About a year ago I started to realize that my life is interesting. Everyone’s life is interesting; it’s just a matter of noticing it. I enjoy the challenge of figuring out what makes things funny, curious, or exciting in my life and then trying to relate that feeling to my friends. Trying to tell interesting stories about my life sharpens my senses and makes me more acutely aware of the things that excite me. It also urges me to take chances and risks I wouldn’t normally take. I often find myself doing embarrassing things because I know that even if I feel uncomfortable about it at the time, I’ll always have a good story to tell someone later.

P: What’s your biggest takeaway moment from your experience at Schoolhaus?

KB: I was working on some things with my friend Megan from class.  She was really frustrated with this risograph print she had made a few nights earlier. It was an unfamiliar process and she was a bit overwhelmed. I convinced her to give it another shot, so she did a quick illustration and we headed over to Zak Sally’s studio to print it. He helped her get it just right on the risograph and it came out beautiful. It’s seriously one of my favorite pieces of art. I have one of the prints hanging on my wall at home. Seeing how happy it made her to overcome that frustration and make it work was the best moment I’ve had at Schoolhaus so far. I think that’s what this whole thing is all about.

MEGAN SWENSON >> Website/Instagram

Pollen: Must-have art supply?

Megan Swenson: Pilot G-2 0.38 black pens; lots and lots of colored, patterned, and textured paper.

P: Why did you choose to attend the program?

MS: Society managed to convince me that being an artist is not a job. So here I am, a debt-ridden psychology major with no job prospects (or real interests) in that field. My real interest is in sustainable living and helping people make conscious choices. Design clicked as a way to take all the ridiculous amounts of confusing, contradictory information about healthy living and condense it into a clear, comprehensible, and actionable piece of artwork. Schoolhaus was the perfect forum to learn if this was possible without having to commit to four years of school and more debt. It’s a community of like-minded people who push themselves to learn, choose to come to class, and choose to create. It’s what education should be like.  

P: Could you share an example of how another student’s work has inspired your own?

MS: Kelsey Oseid is a phenomenal illustrator. Our first assignment was to take a class member’s application (Have you seen them? They’re crazy awesome.) and create a response to it. Kelsey reviewed mine and started influencing my work from that moment on, whether she knew it or not. She has told me about artists and lent me books that have caused me to stay up for hours trying different techniques that they use. She’s given me words to describe my aesthetic because sometimes its hard to step back from your own work and understand it. She’s given me technical tools and advice, for example, never opened Photoshop before Schoolhaus. Most recently she even introduced me to pattern making.

JIM BLAHA

Pollen: Time of day you feel most creative?

Jim Blaha: Any time I am drinking coffee.

P: Why did you choose to attend the program?

JB: I never went to art school and I figured if I ever did, it would be a program that encouraged learning for the sake of learning — no grades or authority to please. This school is all about process and in the end that is all an artist really ever has to lean on.

P: How has working in this environment informed or changed your creative process?

JB: I am way more willing to go outside of my comfort zone. I am way less afraid to fail here because something great always seems to come out of it. Whether it’s a dialogue or a new way of working, just keep making stuff.

JACOB SWOGGER >>Website

Pollen: Time of day you feel most creative?

Jacob Swogger: The middle of the day when I am stuck in an office.

P: Why did you choose to attend the program?

JS: As someone who has wrestled with traditional learning his whole life, this is what I’ve always wanted out of an educational experience. An unexpected thing I’ve really enjoyed from this experience is that I’m not learning and working in isolation. A solid introvert, I love my “me” time so this is truly unexpected. I’m meeting people with many of the same struggles I’ve had and making myself vulnerable in a supportive group that wants me to be better.

P: What have you learned after working with such a collaborative, supportive group? How has it inspired and changed your own work?

JS: I think a place like this to be my weird creative self and talk with people that know what that means is inspiring in it’s own right. It makes producing the work easier in some way because I know that I’m in a community excited by art and the nuances of it. Schoolhaus has affirmed my perceptions of my ability, but shown me that I can be better and made me want to be better.

IAN BABINEAU >>Instagram

Pollen: Place you feel most creative?

Ian Babineau: In my living room when I’m alone, two drinks deep, and blasting music.

P: Why did you choose to attend the program?

IB: I’m planning a career change from engineering to graphic arts and design. I wanted to do more creative work and stop ignoring my “artistic me.” When I saw the application and read about the philosophy of the program I was immediately excited. Classical education had gotten me to a point where I was starting a career in a field I didn’t really like and felt I knew nothing about, so I was super down to try something new and experimental.

P: How has your time at Schoolhaus inspired that career change?

IB: I feel like I’m finally surrounded by people who see the world and life in the super passionate way that I do. I’ve never felt this comfortable speaking up when I have an idea about anything, whether it’s art related or not. It’s clear that I’ve found the right place. It’s like I didn’t know I wasn’t being myself until I was in an environment where I could be me, and I mean ME at all times. It’s so freeing. I have no doubt that the friendships and artistic relationships I’ve formed at Schoolhaus will extend much longer than the end of Schoolhaus.

Want to keep up with Schoolhaus happenings? Follow the group on Instagram to track what Dan IIbarra, Zak Sally, and their students are doing.