Jeannine Bestoso

Jeannine Bestoso, Associates and Students

Jeannine Bestoso'sWorks in Progress
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Jeannine Bestoso, owner of Creation Art Studio, darts around the floors of her studio.She stops at a pedestal of clay figurines."This boy here, he's from Peru.This is his mother's work-there and there," Bestoso says."They come every week together.They wouldn't miss it for anything."Bestoso turns around.The wall next to her is blanketed in young students' portraits of Kiwi, Bestoso's pet parrot, and seasoned works of watercolorists and oil painters.She points to two paintings of a woman in a speckled dress."A mother did this," Bestoso says, pointing to a painting on the right.Her hand moved across to the left."Her daughter saw it and did this," Bestoso explains.

Bestoso's pride and excitement about her students' work is clear.Just this year Bestoso opened the new Creation Art Studio, a studio and gallery space in East Urbana.The space is a tribute to the creations and talent of her students, associates and herself."I have an incredible need to build," Bestoso says."Building and creating are very important-they promote well-being and purpose."All artists build and create but Bestoso, an artist herself, lives for it."If I hadn't had art in my life I would have been much more lost than I have been.It was through my art that I discovered who I am and what I am capable of.It makes me challenge myself and live passionately," Bestoso says.

Bestoso began to teach students out of the basement of her home-painting, drawing and collage, sculpture and ceramics.Her simple start-up began to grow.By the time she had moved her classes to the new location Bestoso had 25 students."I knew I would eventually expand," she says.Despite the growing need for more studio space and her need to build, Bestoso delayed the expansion of Creation Art Studio.Being a single mother of three children she was hesitant to manage a risky start-up alone."I had no business taking a risk, being a single mother with children," she says."[But], every time I tried to move away from my true calling, some sort of survival instinct would kick in and say ‘no.' I kept watching around town.I kept watching buildings come and go.When I saw this one become available I didn't wait any longer," Bestoso says.

In May of 2002, Bestoso signed the lease to the East Urbana building.The building was hers, independent from partners or second-guessers."I think there are some people that have to create their own space and they will expand out of that space.Then, there are some people that can only go into something that is already created.They can do their job there," Bestoso says."Either one is legitimate.But I am not a person who can [work in something already created]."

Months went into converting the single room into the gallery and studio space that exists today.Every inch is made to measure, according to Bestoso.She built the tables that exhibit the children's ceramics.She constructed the gallery pedestals.She spent the energy to create this start-up studio and gallery, a space she thinks Urbana needed.A small tribute and makeshift mission statement, one that appeals to Bestoso's artistic philosophy, rests on an easel in the middle of the studio.

It reads:

"By pursuing your allurements, you help bind the universe together.The unity of the world rests on the pursuit of passion.

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Every day in Creation Art Studio is an exhibition for her students, colleagues and Bestoso to display their work."The product is important but so is showing your work," Bestoso says.

Students were introduced to the space at the school's opening exhibition on November 22.Friday, Nov. 29 was the first day class was held in the new studio.Students, especially the younger ones, would be just as excited to work in Bestoso's basement.One young student doesn't coo over the big new desks or the extra exhibition space, rather she gets much more excited about all the paints and brushes she gets to use in class."I think Jeannine is a really great teacher," she says.

There is no set curriculum at Creation Art Studio; students learn by means of independent study.If a student needs academic training, Bestoso is equipped to provide them with it.Bestoso has both a bachelor's degree in fine arts and a master's in art education.What matters most is that Bestoso provides students with the time, materials and the opportunity to create.Bestoso's unique teaching approach lies in her refusal to call herself an instructor-rather she sees herself as a facilitator."I try not to move them away from their own style," Bestoso says."I try to deepen and enhance [it]."

Peggy Miller, the mother of 15-year-old Kathleen Reutter, a student at Creation Art Studio, says her daughter has had wonderful experiences working with Bestoso.