Play Full Ground prioritizes process, experimentation, and community—helping young artists build confidence through inquiry, not imitation. Students building a shared world through process and collaboration. Questioning the Model Traditional art education often emphasizes mastery, correctness, and recognizable outcomes. Students are taught to replicate techniques, follow instructions, and meet expectations. While these structures can produce polished results, they often leave

Why This Age Matters I taught in the PreCollege program at the San Francisco Art Institute, a five-week intensive for students between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. I had worked in the program the year before as a program assistant, and I already knew how meaningful that age could be. Adolescence is a threshold, a time when young people begin to ask fundamental questions about who they are and how they relate to the world. I found it to be an ideal moment for serious art

People often think becoming an artist is about talent, inspiration, or the ability to make beautiful things. But what I’ve learned — through immigration, loss, community rebuilding, teaching, and starting from scratch more than once — is that making art is the easy part . The harder part is choosing to live as an artist , to let creativity guide your life even when it’s inconvenient, uncertain, misunderstood, or financially risky. And yet, after more than two decades of movin

“Art is two things: a search for a road and a search for freedom.” This quote by Alice Neel resonates deeply with my journey as both an educator and an artist. From my experimental projects in Japan and the U.S. to the development of Play Full Ground microschool, I have witnessed the transformative power of creativity. Recently, during a Word & Image workshop with Pablo Helguera, another insightful line struck me: “There’s only freedom in structure,” from Branford Marshalls.

Where curiosity leads, creativity connects, and learning becomes art “What if being different is exactly what makes us valuable?” What if you are told that you are different from everyone else? Do you feel that’s a compliment, or do you feel pressure to become more like others? I first encountered this idea of difference in Japan, where the phrase “Kuuki wo yomu (空気を読む)”  — literally, “read the air” — describes the cultural expectation to follow the majority, to blend in rath

What Does It Mean to Be Creative? At Play Full Ground, I often describe creativity not as a talent, but as a practice—a way of approaching the world with curiosity, persistence, and care. Through project-based learning, students learn how to turn ideas into actions and actions into understanding. But what does it really mean to be creative ? I once had a conversation with a student who just started her college education this semester about what it means to develop a project f

Art has a profound ability to connect people and foster community spirit. The " Speak Not So Easy " project, an eighteen-month art and education initiative, exemplifies this by bringing together young creatives in high school and early college. They collaborated, shared ideas, and co-created meaningful artworks, allowing diverse youth to contribute their creativity to a shared vision. In this post, I'll explore the project's process and the students' learning journey. My Wh

In today's fast-paced world, traditional educational models often fall short of engaging students and preparing them for real-life...

When I was writing the previous blog post, "Exploring the American Dream: A New Perspective," , I found myself reflecting on the initial idea for my microschool, which I temporarily named "Dream School." This concept was born during an entrepreneurship workshop I took during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a community-based, participatory, and collaborative artist, this period challenged me to think outside the box about my art practice. Additionally, all my teaching shifted online

In my last post , I shared that I moved to the United States with the dream of becoming an artist. The truth is, at the time, I didn't...

I recently read the local newspaper article about the American Dream: Panetta Institute survey reports college students believe less in...

I’ve been exploring the idea that "Art is useless or unnecessary," a concept that often sparks interesting discussions. While it might...