FA ARTS FA’s New Art Teacher, Ian Factor, Unveils His Vision for Visual Arts

Ian Factor is the newest member of the Fine Arts Department and has big goals for the future of FA’s visual arts. With a newly renovated space, he is off to a great start and excited about how things are going so far!

What is the most exciting aspect of joining Fryeburg Academy’s Fine Arts Department?

“The opportunity to build a new visual arts program with new courses and a new focus, including coordinating and designing the newly renovated and equipped studio spaces, with such incredible support from the administration and wonderful colleagues. After teaching art and design for more than 20 years in higher education, opening and running my own non-profit art academies and working with students all over the world, coming “home” to the Northeast and Maine and becoming part of the special and unique community at FA is beyond exciting.”

What are your hopes and vision for art at FA?

“To continue what Steve Pullan (my predecessor) had built —a welcoming and open environment for anyone to feel comfortable expressing themselves through the visual arts, but at the same time bringing a high level of academic, technical, and conceptual training to the students who are looking for, and are interested in that mode of education. One of the main points of this is to fully prepare the students who are focused on pursuing the visual arts past high school. This includes post-secondary training, art school, atelier training, and eventually working as a full-time visual artist. I plan to have more opportunities for the art students both inside the Academy walls and outside, regionally, nationally, and internationally. It’s great how open and enthusiastic all of the art instructors are for collaboration and inter/cross-disciplinary programming for the students. This applies to so many of the instructors I’ve been speaking with in other departments as well. It really is such a healthy and important principle and practice that I see being explored and expressed here at FA.”

How do you feel about your new space, and the impact will it have on the program?

“The redesigned and renovated studios are still a work in progress, and I plan to have things (more or less) completed by the end of this fall semester. I spent some time in the older studios before the work was started, and it’s like night and day. The new studios are much brighter and more open. I have ordered all new furniture for the 2D studios where I teach Art I, Narrative Image Making/Illustration, the Portfolio Class, and run the Art Internship. We have a lot of new equipment, tools, and supplies that take the physical space and facilities of the art studios beyond many of the college and university art departments I’ve taught at.

I plan to spend winter break setting up the sculpture and ceramics studio with a new kiln, a new ventilation system, and a lot of new equipment and furniture to make the making more fun, easier, and more efficient for the students. I have a group of seven incredible Art Interns whom I’ve been working with daily to set up and organize all of the spaces, and every day, it feels closer to completion, so the process has been exciting and meaningful for all of us.

As the students spend more time in the studios and complete more work, we will get more work up on the walls and around the space. The creative energy of the studios will continue to evolve, and the spaces will feel more and more comfortable and welcoming while maintaining a sense of mindfulness, organization, and focus. I want the students to think of the studio spaces as their space, thus an extension of themselves. The spaces are a living, breathing entity, and as the students put more mind, time, and energy into the work they create, respecting the space, the tools, equipment, and supplies as they should their own selves, the spaces will reflect that. This will carry over to every other aspect of their lives.”

How has your first semester at FA been?

“It’s been an amazing first couple of months here. The staff and faculty are incredible, so welcoming, supportive, and encouraging. It’s been an overwhelming amount of work since April when I began planning the space with Joe Manning, Joe Minnich, Mike Sakash, and so many other administrators, working with all of the contractors through the summer, ordering supplies, equipment, and furniture, designing all new curricula and courses, and going through all of the new faculty training and orientation. It’s been a lot, and I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been exhausting! But the energy here at FA is so unique and so positive, and every night when I’m driving home, I feel happy about how much we’ve accomplished in such a short time, I feel grateful for the opportunity to build something so powerful and meaningful.”