Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brooks Whittle Dantzler. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brooks Whittle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I knew I was an artist for life by the time I was seven years old. I was fortunate to have my paternal grandmother, Louise Wooten Whittle, who was an atelier trained artist, as my first Art mentor. Her talent was “discovered” by her classroom teacher, Miss Rosa Taylor, after completing a botanical drawing journal assignment.
We spent many happy hours around Grandma’s kitchen table from the time I was 4 in 1955 until I went to college in 1969 working on still life drawings, portraits and botanical drawings in a variety of media: pencil, pen and ink, pastels and watercolors.
Like many other young ladies in GA in the early 1900s, Grandma never sold any of her Art even though she received a
“Best in Show” ribbon at the GA State Fair along with an opportunity offered by a prominent Macon businessman.
Her prize was to be a full scholarship to the Art Students’ League in New York City soon after women were first allowed to study there. Unfortunately, her father forbade her to attend because he thought it was “improper for a respectable young single lady to accept any kind of gratuity at all from even a well-respected businessman!”
I never heard this story until after Grandma had passed. I so wish I could have talked to her about her experience because in May of 1971, I lived her dream as a sophomore Studio Art student at Presbyterian College in SC,
My Art professor, Ms, Alta Alberga, (a native New Yorker) arranged an immersive month-long trip to NYC for all the
PC painting majors to introduce us to the “real” Art World! Needless to say, it was life changing!
When we got on the plane, Ms, Alberga gave each of us a NYC map, a roll of subway tokens and a stern warning to memorize the map…because that would be our only mode of transportation (besides our feet) while residing there!
Each day, we attended AM classes at The Art Students’ League (I took Printmaking from Alberto De La Monica.)
then we would meet for lunch to compare notes on what we learned in each of our classes. Following lunch, we would go back to our residential hotel on Central Park West to rest, do homework and revive for attending either a Broadway show, ballet/play at Lincoln Center or some other performance arts event after dinner. It was a glorious experience and led to me transferring and continuing my studies in Studio Art/Art Education at the University of GA until 1973.
My senior professor was Jim Herbert. Jim had received two Guggenheim awards for Painting and later Film in the 1970s,
He was a brilliant Art Educator who undid a lot of damage done by several of his more bigoted and misogynistic colleagues at the time to me and several of my fellow students.
All of these experiences confirmed to me that I was meant to be a mentoring artist so that other students could realize their artistic dream!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
In 1976, I returned to Macon GA after teaching Elementary Art in The Rock GA and Yatesville GA. My dad had been diagnosed with MS at the time and at my exit interview, I was told the good news that my contract had been renewed for the next year but the bad news was… I did not have any money allocated for supplies for my 400 students. My answer was the worst news …under those circumstances, I would be giving my notice that day due to a family medical emergency and I would not be back.
After returning home, I was very sad to learn that the Bibb Co. School District was not hiring Art Educators at the elementary level. Consequently, I worked in retail sales and as assistant manager of The Framery in Ingleside Village before opening Mockingbird Hill Studio to teach studio Art. I was living in a garage apartment at my grandparents’ home to keep an eye on them for my mom who was primary caregiver for my dad. I was given a converted tool shed to use as my studio to create and teach studio Art.
I started with 5 students, ages 5-16.
By 1979. I had added 25 more afternoon Art students and was approached by a friend, Linda McFarling, a 1979 graduate of Wesleyan College who is a potter. Linda wanted to try teaching wheel pottery to adults and asked if I wanted to help her create a collaborative studio with a couple of other Wesleyan Art majors.
After 6 months, the other “girls” dropped out and Linda decided to quit teaching and become a full time production potter at another location. That left me to be the director of the operation we had named
The Creative Alternative.
My classes continued to grow, I recruited more artists to share the space and have continued as owner/director ever since that time.
The Creative Alternative has been very much in operation in our third and permanent location as a sole proprietorship since 1985. All of our operations have been funded up to now by the students and families who take instruction here. Our staff consists of local professional visual artists, certified Art and Music Educators and local professional musicians who want to be mentors for budding local artists.
Recently, Brandy learned that, through Mind’s Eye, we will be listed as the first destination in GA to join the international ART Hive organization! We are looking forward to our inaugural Art Hive event at
The Creative Alternative on May 11, 2024!
The Creative Alternative is also in the process of applying to be a non-profit organization to promote quality Art Education in a studio setting for ages 5-Adult. This idea was prompted by several local family foundations who approached us about giving donations to our program but needed to be able to get a tax break for their contributions. Once we are approved, we should be able to guarantee our popular program will carry on into perpetuity with scholarships and resources for budding creatives to start their own businesses.
This description, of course, is just a nutshell version of what goes on here every day….
Our building is historically significant and eligible for being listed on the national Historical Registry now that our area is known as the Historical Ingleside Neighborhood in Macon GA.
Once WWII ended, a group of Macon businessmen decided to build Brookwood Apartments and our facility with the recycled materials from the demolition of Camp Wheeler on an acre and 1/3 site owned by Henry Burns as the Ingleside Community Club. It was designed by MCM Macon architect, Bernard “Billy” Webb (deceased) who drew up both sets of blueprints on the original building for the Ingleside Community Club and the remodel done in 1985 when Keitt and I bought the property from the Middle GA Girl Scout Council. All of the building’s historical information is on file at the offices of Historic Macon and the Washington Memorial Library.
What I am proudest of is that, since 1979, we have shared in the trajectory of a multitude of artists and musicians who have gone on to accomplish great things as performers, professionals and creative entrepreneurs in their individual artistic pursuits. Several of our former students, including my late husband and partner, Keitt Dantzler, and my two sons, Laurence (certified chef/restauranteur) and William (Fresh Produce Records) have all launched small creative businesses from here along with former students and instructors including Amy McCullough (Macon Clay) and Casie Trace (Artspace Macon).
Our intent is to continue mentoring creative visionaries who will always embody our studio motto:
” Go forth and LIVE as ART!”
.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My resilience as an Art Educator stems from dealing with the stress of an underfunded full-time job, being shuffled from position to position and corrupt administrators.
In 2003, at age 51, I was FINALLY invited by a visionary principal. Diana Rogers. to join her Title I faculty at
W.T. Morgan ES (now called Veterans ES) here in Macon GA as a full-time Art Educator to teach PreK-5th Grade Art. I also worked with the moderately and severely disabled students and their aides. I created a curriculum that echoed the math, reading and social studies lessons the students were covering in their respective classrooms.
In 2005, grant funding for that position ran out and I was assigned to Skyview ES from 2005-2008 where Gail Gilbert was principal. Skyview was a newer school (also Title I) with a terrific team of Connection teachers in Music, Art, PE and Computer skills. We developed a school wide Connection curriculum similar to the one I had created for Art at Morgan ES. Along with the enthusiastic participation of our excellent Media Specialist as a literary resource for all of our lessons and an in-house student run TV station, we were able to help students take their classroom studies to a new level of learning through enrichment activities each week with monthly multicultural themes. For example: each month, our team would feature a specific culture and the activities would be based on the Music, Art, Sports/Dance of that culture to tell the story.
The Media Specialist would set up a book center in the school library featuring the “Culture of the Month” for students to read during library time or check out to learn more about it. The Computer Tech teacher would help the students find images and articles to read about each culture along with facts to share in their Music, Art and PE classes. The program was VERY popular with several of our school families who enthusiastically volunteered as “cultural ambassadors” to our classrooms to share their family traditions and culinary experiences as children growing up in a different culture.
That was the year that Skyview was awarded a School of Character designation, partly because of how our curriculum connected the whole school of over 400 students!
Eventually, the grant funding for my full-time position ran out and I was asked to teach Art three days a week at Skyview. I was also tapped to be the lead Gifted Education teacher position (Grades K-5) two days a week at another Title I school in Macon (Jessie Rice ES) after acquiring my certification for
Gifted Education (K-12).
In 2008, I was widowed when my husband was the victim of a fatal auto accident. At the same time, my Skyview principal was asked to take the helm of Rutland HS (2000+ students) in the same area as Skyview. Ms. Gilbert asked me to join her HS faculty and I taught Studio Art and Photography. I also became certified to teach Advanced Placement Portfolio (9-12th grade).
During my last three years teaching, Bibb Co hired a new Superintendent who turned out to be a con artist. Our school was put under three Title I grants…two federal/one state grant at the same time for “school improvement”.
All teaching staff were required to submit and post online and, in our classrooms, extensive standards-based lesson plans (that I am sure no one ever read). We also were required to enter copious amounts of data to prove we were doing what the grants stipulated so we could continue to receive funding.
Too much sitting work was required, almost like having another job along with my instruction time and other school duties. My day usually ran from 7:30 AM to 6 PM or longer if there was a school event.
I retired in 2012, at 62, with an extreme case of sciatic pain and Hashimoto’s thyroid disease that still flares up from time to time.
I am pleased to report that the county was able to hold the crooked superintendent accountable for his fraudulent practices. At our final grant review, my Fine Arts colleagues and I were told that our department’s collaborative teaching practices for learning differentiation were the “crown of the school”!
Throughout my time in public school, I still kept directing The Creative Alternative as a sanctuary from the stress with bright creative teachers who kept my spirits up and my mental health outlook positive!
was the “crown of our school”!
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I am sure that most non-creatives are unaware of the sheer number of visionary people who populate the Fine Arts world as a safe place to just “be”.
In my case, on my journey to become a Gifted certified teacher, I took many courses about learning styles, learning “disabilities” and the trials most people on the spectrum encounter as they circumvent the many obstacles of antiquated classroom practices that sometime seem to focus more on learning disabilities than creative abilities!
What I discovered is that I am certain that had I ever been tested, I would most likely be deemed a
“high functioning autistic individual”.
Fortunately, because I have family who have worked for both Lucasfilm and Pixar, I have been able to visit both campuses and seen effective models of brilliant young creatives, in their best environments, working as collaborative teams with state-of-the-art equipment. Neither company looks anything like a traditional public-school classroom.
As The Creative Alternative has grown, my instructors and I have consciously tried to implement as much of those models as possible in our own way to provide an initial experience similar to what is required of someone working to excellence in a brainstorm oriented, cooperative rather than competitive workplace. The expectations we require in our program mirror what I saw in action on my visits, The good news is that visionary critical thinkers as young as 5 can be successful in our program. I like to say that in a lot of ways, we are a cozy introduction to the rigors of studio life to set the tone for a successful Fine Arts career!
My suggestion for anyone seeking positive mental health and self-fulfillment would be to give yourself or your children a chance to experience the Fine Arts as an enrichment experience and discover which discipline empowers you to be the best YOU! It is never too early or late to start!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.creativealternative.art
- Facebook: The Creative Alternative
Image Credits
Brooks Dantzler