Studio Sessions
The Alchemy of Not Knowing
with Dylan Beck
February 2027
About the Studio Session
The unknown is a common source of anxiety in the studio and beyond. If we can accept that there are no absolute answers to life’s unanswerable questions, and if we can embrace an agnostic worldview—literally, from the Greek agnōstos ("unknown or unknowable")—there is immense freedom to be found in simply being okay with not knowing. When we stop demanding certainty, we open ourselves to the mystical and fantastic possibilities of the unknowable.
Although uncertainty is often seen as a failure of planning, or as a lack of skill or understanding, it can be reframed as an alchemical and prolific material. How can we harness the often scary feelings of doubt and disquiet, ride it through the darkest parts of our creative practice, and emerge in a place of newfound revelatory creativity?
In this Studio Session, we will actively practice sitting with the feeling of not knowing. The immediate future may feel entirely stripped of stability (tech might solve all of our problems or it might obliterate us; there is certainly political unrest like no other time), but we can harness the potential of uncertainty to prepare us for a more joyous future.
About the Lead Artist
Dylan Beck is a Portland-based artist and educator who creates sculpture and utilitarian pottery from his home studio. He currently teaches at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) and serves as the Ceramics and Sculpture studio manager at Lewis & Clark College. Throughout his distinguished career in academia, Beck has served as a professor and department head at both Oregon College of Art and Craft and Kansas State University.
His artwork has been featured in prestigious national and international exhibitions, including the Korean International Ceramic Biennale in South Korea, Sans Les Mains in France, and the NCECA Invitational at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Beck’s work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Everson Museum of Art and the Hilton Curio Collection.
When not in the studio or classroom, Beck explores the vast natural landscapes of the Pacific Northwest through camping, foraging, and fishing. His creative practice is deeply informed by his ongoing reading and research in philosophy, environmental justice, and ecology.
Logistics
This session is scheduled for Sundays Feb 7, 14, 21, 28 from 10am-noon PST (that’s Los Angeles time).
Registration is $320 and includes all four sessions.
Participants gather via Zoom.