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Illinois Art Station: Death by Small Town Politics
How many people can truly say they love their job? According to a 2024 Gallup poll, only about 30% of American workers say they’re “highly satisfied” with what they do. I was proud to be one of them.
At 48 years old, as a low-income, non-traditional Black graduate student at Illinois State University, I was working toward my Master’s in Art Education and teaching license. Landing a graduate teaching assistant position at Illinois Art Station (IAS) in Normal, Illinois, felt like finding where I truly belonged.
After years in the corporate world as a web and graphic designer, and deep depression after losing my mother to Alzheimer’s, teaching brought me back to life. During the pandemic, when I worked as a substitute special education assistant, I realized that education wasn’t just a job for me — it was a calling.
When I first set foot in Illinois Art Station, it was the art education environment I always wanted to be in. It wasn’t like the art education I grew up with, where only the “European Masters” like Da Vinci and Picasso were showcased. IAS celebrated diversity, social justice, neurodivergence (something I relate to, being diagnosed with ADHD in 2021), and featured artists from all walks of life — Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ+.
