KR:  What advice would you give to budding student artists?
GONZO247: For students who want to pursue the arts, I would say try everything. Try everything, even 
if you don’t think you’re good at it. The more things you can learn, the more you know and tools in your 
tool belt. Don’t be afraid of using a jigsaw, and don’t be afraid of using a crazy adhesive. Everything is 
an art supply! I’ve seen an artist that created amazing murals using mud from the surrounding areas. 
They collected mud samples from the city and then painted an entire mural using mud. Who would have 
thought of that? 
For a budding artist, unless you try it, you’re not going to know if you’re good at it. You have to treat art 
as a profession. Work at it every day, the same way a boxer goes to the gym every day, and the scientist 
is in the lab every day. You have to make it a point to work on that memory muscle and practice every 
day.
KR: What advice would you give to art teachers?
GONZO247: First of all, I would like to say thank you to all the art teachers who are putting in the time. I 
know it’s not always easy, but the fact that you’re sticking to it, I commend that tremendously. Everyone 
loves the idea of being an artist, but not everyone has the same skill set or the same trajectory of what 
they’re going to do in art. Open up the door as wide as possible to everything that can be considered 
as a career in art. There are curators, managers, and so many different things you can do within the 
art world. 
You don’t necessarily have to be just an artist.  I think opening that door can give a kid inspiration that 
they can still be in this even though they don’t see themselves fitting within a teacher-led assignment. 
School was always very structured, but I think with art sometimes the structure is too restrictive. How 
do you color outside the line, if you’re not allowed to? Most artists don’t color inside the lines. Imagine 
that there were no lines, how far can these students go?
Author Note:  I would like to thank GONZO247 for his collaboration on this article and his support 
and advocacy for the importance of the visual arts across our schools and communities. For more 
information about GONZO247’s work, visit: https://www.gonzo247.com
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TRENDS 2026 	
	
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Figure 10. Sculpture Installation, Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Photograph courtesy of the artist. 

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