We recently connected with Patricia Hunter McGrath and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Patricia , thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Over the past 38 years, I’ve had the privilege of following my creative passions wherever they’ve called me. Creativity has always been at the center of everything I do—whether in the classroom, the studio, or on stage.

Twelve years ago, during a time of great economic uncertainty—when the housing market had collapsed and banks were on the brink—I made the bold decision to expand my preschool. I was told again and again that it wouldn’t be possible, that the timing was all wrong. But I’ve never let others decide what’s possible for me. I believed in my soul that it was possible. The vision for my school was crystal clear, and I was determined to make it happen—no matter what obstacles stood in the way.

With the support of the incredible families whose children attended my school, I was able to purchase a building—at a time when such a feat felt nearly impossible. I had no savings to fund the move from my small home-based childcare to a full preschool. Yet, in an extraordinary act of community, students from Santa Monica College and East L.A. College—who had attended my early childhood development workshops—volunteered to help me pack and unpack. They believed in the vision and wanted to be part of something meaningful.

When there were no funds for furniture, parents and educators organized a fundraiser to help me furnish the new school. When we had no budget for outdoor play spaces, a landscape architect heard about the project and donated his services to help design our garden. This school wasn’t built alone—it was a labor of love and belief, brought to life by a community that saw what was possible and chose to contribute.

I had a clear vision: to create a school community rooted in creativity, collaboration, and a new approach to education—an approach I came to call Contemporary Academics. I’ve always known that when my vision is strong, the path to making it real will appear.

The parents believed in that vision too—an education that could spark cultural and social transformation. One that works in harmony with the natural world, honors diverse perspectives, and embraces The Hundred Languages of Children—inviting children to make their thinking visible through many forms of expression.

Contemporary Academics
Contemporary Academics is an evolving educational philosophy I developed at Branches Atelier. It’s grounded in the belief that children are capable, curious thinkers, and that learning should be meaningful, dynamic, and deeply connected to the world around them.

Rather than dividing learning into isolated, rigid subjects, this approach integrates core academic skills—literacy, mathematics, science, and critical thinking—into rich, real-world investigations. Whether planting gardens, building with blocks, drawing maps, or telling stories, children engage in authentic inquiry and problem-solving that lead to deep academic understanding.

Contemporary Academics values multiple ways of knowing—through the arts, sciences, movement, emotion, imagination, and community. Children use materials as tools of the mind, expressing complex ideas through painting, clay, movement, and storytelling. Through documentation, dialogue, and reflection, they build an awareness of their own thinking and learning processes.

At its core, this approach is about preparing children not just for school, but for life. It fosters empathy, creativity, collaboration, and a deep love of learning—qualities that help children grow into thoughtful, engaged citizens in a rapidly changing world.

Over the years, I’ve had the honor of sharing this work with educators across the United States and around the world—offering seminars, workshops, and keynote presentations in China, Australia, Canada, Scotland, and throughout the U.S.

Alongside my work in education, I’ve always continued to express my creativity in the world. From designing a line of cashmere sweaters and dresses, to crafting decoupage candles, ceramics, and mixed media art, I’ve never placed limits on how I share my creative spirit.

For me, creativity is not one path—it is the thread that connects them all. From teaching to painting, from writing to performing, each is a deeply integrated expression of who I am. They are not separate callings; they are one continuous flow. Each feeds the other, guiding my days and grounding me in the joy of creating something meaningful.

Patricia , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Patricia Hunter McGrath
Founder and Executive Director, Branches Institute and Branches Atelier School
Artist • Writer • Performer • Master Teacher • International Speaker

I am a Scottish-born artist, writer, performer, and educator with a lifelong commitment to creativity, transformation, and connection. In 2007, I founded Branches Atelier in Culver City, California—a preschool and early childhood center inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy. Today, our school serves over 100 families through its preschool, parent-infant, and parent-toddler programs. In addition to Reggio, I developed my own approach to learning called Contemporary Academics, which honors children’s capacity to think deeply, express freely, and engage in meaningful inquiry through the arts.

Before founding Branches, I spent seven years teaching at The Growing Place in Santa Monica, and later became the Atelierista at Evergreen Community School. There, I began to develop my framework for offering materials not just as art tools, but as Tools of the Mind—ways for children to express, test, and refine their thinking through relationships with materials, ideas, and each other. I’ve worked extensively with expressive media like clay, wire, paint, and found materials, and I believe deeply in the power of art to give voice to children’s theories, stories, and questions.

In 2005, I traveled to Perth, Australia, where I created the Atelierista role at a school serving children ages 2 to 16 and designed a Reggio Emilia course for Murdoch University. I’ve also been a long-standing member of the West Coast Collaborative—a network of Reggio-inspired schools—and have participated in eight study tours to Reggio Emilia, Italy, continuing an ongoing professional dialogue with pedagogista Tiziana Filippini.

I hold a Master’s degree in Human Development, Social Change, and Art Education from Pacific Oaks College, and I studied visual art at the Santa Monica College of Design, Art and Architecture, where I was mentored by extraordinary working artists including Laddie John Dill, Alison Saar, Peter Alexander, and George Herms. It was there that I truly embraced my life as an artist, developing a deeply intuitive and expressive visual language that continues to shape everything I do.

For over 30 years, I have been painting seascapes and dreamlike landscapes that reflect not only the physical beauty of Scotland, my homeland, but the emotional terrain of memory, longing, and renewal. My work has been exhibited and sold in both the U.S. and Scotland. I am continually drawn to the sea and sky—to their shifting weather, changing light, and constant transformation. They mirror the human experience, and they remind me that no matter how fierce the storm, light always returns.

In 2023, I submitted a piece of writing for the first time. My story, A Geography of Rain, was selected as a finalist in the national writing competition Scotland’s Stories Now, and I was honored to perform it on the main stage of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Since then, I have expanded it into a full-length multimedia performance incorporating original paintings, soundscape, digital media, and spoken word. The piece premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe.

I am also a contributing author of In the Spirit of the Atelier and Insights and Inspirations from Reggio Emilia, both published by Davis Publications. I write parenting articles for Culver City and Westchester magazines, and I present workshops, seminars, and keynotes on education, creativity, and the arts across the U.S. and internationally, including in China, Australia, Canada, and Scotland.

At the heart of all my work—whether in the studio, the classroom, or on stage—is a belief in the power of creativity to heal, connect, and transform:

“I believe that education has the power to change culture—to create and shape a future where all children thrive.”
“Through education, teachers can shine a light in the darkest of times and lead the way toward a future of new possibilities.”
“I believe that we can heal ourselves, our communites and our world through art.”
“We were all born with the gift of creativity unfortunately at a young age we are told that we are not artists. Being an artist isn’t a gift for only the lucky few it belongs to all of us. We all have the power to reclaim our birth right, let our souls sing and bring change, beauty and new possibilities into the world. To use our creativity to build bridges not walls.”

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

My biggest creative breakthrough came during a meditation.

I saw myself covered from neck to feet in a heavy black wool shroud—knitted by my father. Each thread formed from a kick, a threat, a slap. Each stitch bound me—meant to crush, silence, and contain. I had worn it so long, I no longer felt its weight. It had become part of me.

But in that meditation, I found a small space where the light came through the black. Just a sliver. And I saw a single loose thread. I reached for it, pulled—and with it, unraveled a stitch or two.

Since then, every time I paint, every time I write, perform, or speak up, more stitches unravel. It gets lighter.

The weight of generational trauma—passed down, inherited—adds rows of stitching. But creating helps undo them. Row by row. Gesture by gesture. Word by word.

This image stays with me every day. And when self-doubt creeps in—when I hear the critic’s voice rising—I ask myself: Are you unraveling a row right now? Or are you knotting one back in?

That question brings me back to the truth of why I create: not just to express, but to unbind. To breathe. To heal. To become free.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist—or any kind of creative—is the way it allows us to translate the invisible. It’s the act of turning emotion, memory, and mystery into something tangible—something others can see, feel, or hear and say, “Yes. That’s it. I’ve felt that too.”

There’s deep meaning in discovering what I didn’t know I knew—when a painting, a poem, or a performance reveals something truer than language. Creativity offers a way to process the unspoken, to connect with others across time and place, and to shape something meaningful from what might otherwise remain pain, silence, or longing.

And there’s joy, too—in the pure play of color, rhythm, and movement. The small miracles that happen when intuition leads the way and something unexpected emerges. That moment of recognition, when someone stands before the work and sees a part of themselves in it—that, to me, is a quiet kind of magic.

Over time, I’ve learned not to judge or question what my soul—or intuition—is telling me, but simply to try. Not to worry about what others might think, but to embrace the process of discovery. I’ve learned to put my inner critic in the back seat and stay open to whatever wants to emerge.

A year ago, I never imagined I’d be performing at the Hollywood or Edinburgh Fringe Festival—but here I am. I’ve learned not to talk myself out of what’s rising, but to stay curious and follow where it leads. When I create from this deeper, more unfiltered, authentic place, I feel a stronger connection with the people who experience my work. They feel it too. It touches on something real—their emotions, their memories—and it means something to them.

I’ve come to trust this deeper wisdom within me. It’s not always neat or predictable, but it’s true. And that truth is where connection lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: patricia@branchesatelier.com www.patriciahuntermcgrath.com www.reggioinspirations.com
• Instagram: patriciahuntermcgrath branchesatelier
• Facebook: Patricia Hunter McGrath
• Other: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on?search=true&text=A%20Geography%20of%20Rain

  https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/12297?tab=reviews