Meet Stewart Cubley | Founder, The Painting Experience

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stewart Cubley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stewart, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It happened organically. My training was in math and science, nothing to do with the arts. I met my future wife at a spiritual conference in Switzerland and one thing led to anther.

From my forthcoming book: The Sacred and the Wild

“I began to explore the painting process for myself. Under Michele’s tutelage, I participated in classes she taught in our tiny apartment off Haight Street in San Francisco, where we’d found a place to rent of our own. To accommodate the five or six people we could fit in our space, I had to move our mattress to the living room before each class and convert the bedroom to a makeshift studio. I was initially reluctant, but my presence made the classes appear larger. I hoped it was a phase that would soon pass, so in my mind, I always kept a safety net – I told myself I was passing through on my way back to my real home in Alaska.

I was undertaking an apprenticeship of sorts without realizing at the time what it was preparing me for. It was becoming clear that this painting process was indeed a radically fresh avenue for inner exploration. Art – at least the little I’d known it – had always been about the product. But here was a use of the medium for an entirely different purpose, and one that I slowly came to recognize as resonating strongly with my own convictions.”

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Stewart Cubley, Founder and Director
For over four decades, Stewart Cubley has pioneered a way of integrative and creative living through the practice of process painting. His method is one of respectful questioning, inviting you to extend yourself into new areas of thought and feeling. Stewart has the ability to meet you where you are and to ask the right question at the right time. He is a down-to-earth teacher whose personal interactions allow you to see yourself differently in ways that can be life changing. Stewart travels throughout the world, teaching his unique approach to thousands of people at personal growth centers such as the Esalen Institute and the Omega Institute. He has brought his work to multinational corporations, programs in prisons and countless other public forums. Stewart is the co-author of Life, Paint & Passion, Reclaiming the Magic of Spontaneous Expression (Tarcher/Putnam). He and his wife, Shae Irving, live in Fairfax, California and part of the year on their homestead near Denali Park, Alaska.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My choice would be some of the natural wonders of the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area where I live:

Pt Reyes National Seashore
Mt Tamalpais
Sonoma Wine Country

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My ex-wife and partner, Michele Cassou, in developing The Painting Experience.
All the courageous painters who have risked their most profound unknown by participating in process painting.
The teachers who have been light posts along the way: Krishnamurti, Moshe Feldenkrais, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaja, Joseph Campbell…

Website: https://www.processrats.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paintingexperience/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paintingexperience

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PaintingExperience/

Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/processarts/

Image Credits
Copyright The Painting Experience