HOW MY OWN JOURNEY WITH ART SHAPED A VERY DIFFERENT KIND OF ART SCHOOL
To understand why Sunshine Art School is so different to conventional Art Schools and institutions, you first need to understand my (Fi, founder of Sunshine Art School) own journey with art.
Growing up as an only child in South Africa, I spent much of my childhood in my own little world of fairytale books and art materials.
From a young age my parents sent me to private art classes. They were small, mixed-age classes where I was often the only child amongst adults. I remember drawing fairies from an old vintage fairy book and animals from National Geographic magazines. The classes were studio-style, there were no grids or formulas.
I simply drew. I explored. I played. And I loved it.
I wasn’t being taught to be an artist. I was being given the space to discover that I already was one.
WHEN I LOST THE MAGIC…
At high school I did exceptionally well in art and received a scholarship to study Fine Art at university in Cape Town.
But it was there that something changed.
I began spending much of my time writing essays and learning techniques, and the practical work often involved grids and very structured ways of working. Slowly, I felt the magic disappearing from my art and I was feeling deeply unhappy. Eventually, I made the difficult decision to leave university. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
FINDING THE MAGIC AGAIN
I then decided to join Ruth Prowse School of Art — a very special art school in South Africa, where the focus was much more practical and experimental. I was given freedom to explore and express myself, and slowly, the magic returned. For my final thesis, I created life-sized puppets and graduated with distinction and the highest mark.
That experience became one of the foundations of Sunshine Art School. I knew that if I ever created my own art school, I didn’t want it to be built around grids, formulas, rigid techniques or pressure to produce the “correct” result.
I wanted to help people move away from their heads and back towards their hearts.
FROM ART SCHOOL TO PAINTING EXTRAVAGANT HOUSES!
After graduating, I apprenticed under a well-known decorative artist.
We worked in some of the most beautiful and extravagant houses and painted florals onto cupboards, walls, floors and even toilet seats! We turned ordinary wood into beautiful marble and created Tuscan murals. I loved it and eventually, I started my own decorative art business, Fine Lines.
But after several years, my body started telling me that this wasn’t the path for me.
The fumes from synthetic paints gave me headaches, and the physical work of constantly climbing ladders and painting ceilings became exhausting. One day, after a particularly difficult job, I drove home in my little green Beetle and decided I had had enough. I closed my decorative art business.
I knew I needed to find a different way.
STEINER EDUCATION CHANGED HOW I SAW THE WORLD
I went on to study Steiner Education, and it changed me profoundly.
I discovered a very different relationship with creativity — one that placed a strong value on nature, natural materials, imagination, seasons and a deeper and more spiritual connection with the world around us.
It changed the way I thought about art. There was a sense of wonder and reverence for the natural world. I would create stories from scratch, make puppet plays and even paint my own children’s books.
I spent several years working in Steiner schools, and although I eventually left that path, so much of what I learned stayed with me. It became woven into the way I see art and education.
FROM SYNTHETIC PAINTS TO NATURAL MATERIALS
My journey with fumes from decorative art and the natural ethos from Steiner education propelled me into exploring natural and traditional art materials. I began researching natural pigments and traditional art materials, experimenting with making natural art materials myself and asking questions about where our art materials come from and how they affect both us and the environment.
There is something profoundly different about painting a plant with pigment made from a plant, using traditional tools and materials that connect us more closely to the natural world.
A NEW BEGINNING IN AUSTRALIA
At the age of 28, I made another enormous decision. I left South Africa and immigrated to Australia.
I arrived with the hope of creating a different life. Rather than continuing to teach in Steiner schools, I decided I wanted to return to my first love — art.
I began teaching children and teenagers from a little pottery studio called Clayden Potters in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast. I called it Sunshine Art Classes. But transporting boxes of art materials back and forth quickly became exhausting.
Then, I found a beautiful little building in Montville. It looked like something from a fairytale. From the very first time I saw it, I knew. This was where Sunshine Art School belonged.
And Sunshine Art School was born.
CREATING A DIFFERENT KIND OF ART SCHOOL
I didn’t want to recreate a traditional art institution, I wanted to create something different. I wanted to create the art school I wished I had experienced. Something intimate, beautiful and uplifting. Something that felt more like a haven than a classroom.
I wanted small numbers, max 10 students, so that I could go on an individual intimate journey with each student. I wanted to use the highest quality art materials and the best natural and traditional materials I could find.
My entire history has shaped the way I teach. That is why I deliberately chose to teach differently.
At Sunshine Art School, we don’t believe that every artwork needs to begin with a grid, a formula or a set of rigid rules. Instead, we want students to move away from their heads and back towards their hearts. Whether its beginners feeling nervous to start their art journey or advanced artist who have artist bock or who’s work lacks magic.
I have had many students come to me after attending more formal art institutions. Some arrive with impressive technical skills, but also with anxiety and a feeling that something is missing from their artwork. Sometimes my role is to “unstitch” what they have learned. To gently help them let go of the fear of getting it wrong. To put down the ruler and stop measuring every line. To slow down, trust the process, to experiment and play again.
And slowly, something begins to happen. The anxiety starts to lift, the artwork begins to come alive, and the joy returns.
TAKING THE RISK…
There have been many times when I have wondered whether I should simply follow the traditional model. Perhaps larger classes and cheaper materials would make more financial sense. Perhaps instant art from teaching grids and techniques would look more impressive and attract more students. Perhaps a more conventional art school would be easier for people to understand.
But I stuck with my heart often going against logic and I’m so glad I did. Sunshine Art School has become not simply a place to learn how to draw and paint, but a haven where we can slow down, reconnect with ourselves, connect with nature and — perhaps — find a little bit of that childhood magic again.
This is why Sunshine Art School is different and this is why it had to be created the way it was.