Inner Idea Artists

"All methods are sacred if they're internally necessary" - Wassily Kandinsky

In 1977, after receiving my Fine Arts Degree from the University of Illinois - Chicago Circle, I was confused about what I had experienced there. I knew the entire school had been set up in the 1960s and ?70s to carry the Bauhaus principles forward in architecture, design and fine art. I also knew that several of my teachers were so excited about it that it felt like a religious fervor had taken over the school. Even with all the hype, I wasn?t sure how these new ideas would look in the years to come or how my teachers? philosophical excitement could translate into actual art pieces

Shortly after graduating, I moved to Seattle with my family. When I tried to further my education and understanding of what I had experienced in Chicago, I was was met with artists and teachers who were mystified by most of what I was saying and doing with my art. Since I was unable to find anyone who was willing to take me as a student, I decided to teach with the hope that my students could further my understanding of my Chicago experience. I had no trouble finding a job. Everyone I took my proposal to wanted to hired me because they had never heard of the kind of approach to art education I was suggesting.

I?ve now been teaching for over 30 years and, indeed, my students have taught me more than I had ever hoped or dreamed they would. Their work, like mine, has blossomed under the Kandinsky approach which emphasizes Truth over Beauty and creativity and experimentation over skill-building.

It now seems like the right time to put our work out into the world. This website - like the Guggenheim Museum in New York - is dedicated to Wassily Kandinsky and his courage to change the dialectic of art history from an emphasis on Beauty for its own sake to a conviction that Beauty inevitably follows Truth. Kandinsky believed the greatest gift an artist can give to culture is his Truth which springs from an inner need to express itself.

President & Director - Peggy Zehring