We recently connected with Veronica Gagliano Averkamp and have shared our conversation below.

Veronica , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I have been teaching art classes and workshops through the Racine Art Museum since 2015 at the Wustum campus in Racine, Wisconsin. RAM’s Wustum Museum has one of the largest museum-based studio art programs in Wisconsin. I teach classes in a variety of media, for kids and adults of all ages and skill levels. Being able to share my background and training in fine arts is very meaningful to me. Seeing people engage in a new art form is always exciting. There’s so much exploration to be had with different types of materials like polymer clay, acrylic paint, liquid watercolors, collage and so much more.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Art has always been an integral part of my life. I’ve been creating for as long as I can remember, from the illustrated stories I created as a child to photography to paintings and drawings. I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Drawing & Painting from Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I am a working artist, creating art for local small shops and galleries, and I am also an art educator for the Racine Art Museum. I love making artwork for clients, but I have also fallen in love with teaching people to create their own art and to express themselves through different art mediums.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When it came to creating art, I feel that for awhile I was operating out of fear, and the pressure to make everything perfect. Nothing in life is perfect, however, and your art doesn’t have to be either. I’ve had to learn that creating art is more about the process than the product, which is something I always tell my students at the museum whether they’re kids or adults. What you learn about how the paint reacts to the canvas or paper, how it spreads, what works and what doesn’t work is so vital to your technique and how you will evolve as a creative. I don’t want my students to let the fear of messing up stop them from learning how amazing the process can be, even if it doesn’t turn out perfectly. I try to make my classes as low stress and low pressure as possible, so students can see how fun it can be to play and explore around with the materials.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I mentioned above that I love creating commissions for clients. It’s always an amazing feeling to be trusted with something so special. It’s awesome being able to bring a client’s vision to life on canvas. Furthermore, being a museum educator is something I really treasure. When I’m able, I love taking students from the classroom into the galleries, so we can connect what we see hanging on the museum walls with the materials and mediums being used in the classroom. I love hearing what they see in each work of art, what it could spark for them or remind them of. For my kid students, I hope they grow up and remember the classes they took at the museum and for my adult students, I hope they have fun with the materials and the prompts and learn something new through the process.     

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @fullmoonfarmvintage