The course is built for a specific kind of artist—one who will recognize themselves immediately. “We all have a tendency to collect supplies and techniques first,” Dunnewold said, “and then we realize it would be helpful to know more about color, composition, and the value of making work that is personal and reflects who we are.” Sound familiar? That moment of recognition—the overflowing supply cabinet, the nagging sense that the work isn’t quite saying what you mean—is exactly where this course begins.

Dunnewold is unusually candid about what derails creative confidence, and unusually specific. “It starts early,” she said. “A second-grade teacher who crosses out a little girl’s line of blue sky because ‘that’s not what it looks like.” She described critique groups that focus on personal taste rather than principle, and—with characteristic directness—teachers who feel threatened when students show too much promise. “An ethical teacher teaches what she knows and is then okay when students take what they’ve learned and run with it,” she said.