We all know one. That person who’s incredibly talented but isn’t doing anything with it. The boy who could draw so effortlessly in grade school… now he’s a corporate IT director. Or that girl in high school who wrote poetry that made you cry… she’s a nurse. Maybe it’s your friend who actually went to art school but is hanging dry wall now. Artists-in-denial come in many forms. But what they all have in common is that for one reason or another, they are not exercising their creative talents.

Gallery+ owner/artist, Zackary Hoon, coined the term Artist in Denial when he realized that’s what he was five years ago. “Creating art (drawing, painting, taking photographs) was an important part of my life all the way through high school,” says Hoon. “It was a major part of how I defined myself. But when it was time for college, I didn’t have the nerve to go to art school. I didn’t want to become a ‘starving artist.’ It was time to ‘put away childish things.’ So I did. Then life happened. As I was nearing 50, by all accounts, my life was successful. But still, I wasn’t happy. After some serious soul searching, I realized that creating art was not something I ‘wanted to do’ so much as something I felt ‘compelled to do.’ Denying my creative urges for 30 years was the cause of my unhappiness and, frankly, wasn’t healthy. But the most important thing I realized was that I wasn’t alone.”

Hoon believes there are many people, just like him, who have turned their backs on their creativity and are unhappy because of it. “Art is intensely personal,” Hoon says. “It’s also culturally important. It’s a reflection of who we are. But, it’s a hard way to make a living. So, it’s easy to talk yourself out of doing it. You end up doing something ‘more practical.’ Then you find yourself unhappy and you don’t know why.” That’s why Hoon developed his 13-week Artist in Denial course which is built on three pillars: Admit it, Do it, and Share it. Based on The Artists’s Way by Julia Cameron, the course will also include 4 creative work shops. It will conclude with a private party where new works will be shared. Student work will also be on display during a Third Friday at 78th Street Studios. The first classes will start in May at Gallery+.

 

 

Gallery+

1305 West 80th Street, Suite 109

Cleveland, Ohio 44102

440.503.3450

gallery-plus.com

 

Works by Leslie Edwards-Humez, Diane Hoeptner, Zackary Hoon, Tricia Kaman, and Ted Lawson.

Hours: Third Fridays 5 – 9 pm, and by appointment

 

Artist in Denial Course:

Thirteen-week course at Gallery+ from 6:30 – 8:30 pm Wednesdays, or 10 am – noon Saturdays. Classes will be limited to six students. Class fee is $549 and includes a copy of The Artists’s Way and admission to 4 workshops. For more information, contact Zackary Hoon at zack@gallery-plus.com or  440.503.3450.