Art faculty member Gyan Shrosbree says that she has always valued her practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique, and it helps her maintain a disciplined creative process.

TM helps one maintain a disciplined creative process
9 July 2017
by Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, USA, Achievements

Art faculty member Gyan Shrosbree is cementing her reputation as an artist with a half-dozen individual and group shows around the country. Her work is currently on display through June at the Yellow Door Gallery in Des Moines along with works by her father, Jim Shrosbree, who is also an Maharishi University of Management (MUM) faculty member. 

Also showing through June is an exhibit at Grapefruits in Portland, Oregon. A group exhibit that includes her work is now on display through August at ArtStart in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. In addition, a group show will open in July at Western Exhibitions in Chicago.

Two solo exhibits coming up include one at Haus Collective in San Antonio, Texas, that will run September and October, and one at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin, in November and December.

Ms. Shrosbree grew up in Fairfield and received her BFA degree from The Kansas City Art Institute in 1998 and her MFA degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2000. She has exhibited in galleries all around the US and participated in numerous artist residency programs and fellowships.

While teaching at St. Philips College in San Antonio, Texas, Ms. Shrosbree became a guest teacher at MUM, and in 2011 she decided to move back to her hometown. “Working with the students is so different here,” she said. “You see them every day, you really get to know them, and you see their progress.” She is now assistant professor of painting and drawing and program director for the BFA track.

When she is teaching, it can be challenging to find time to work on her art, but Ms. Shrosbree tries to spend some time in her studio every day. The routine of returning to the studio daily, being engaged with the art consistently, and focusing on the creative process instead of its results is what has helped Ms. Shrosbree become a productive artist, and that is what she encourages her students to do.

She says that she has always valued her practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique, and it helps her maintain a disciplined creative process. “I think TM is an amazing supplement for a sustainable studio practice, which is what we try to teach the students how to cultivate.”

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