Build a habit of creation that fits your unique life…
and lasts a lifetime.

The Class

We’re full of ideas.

We know some techniques.

We’ve listened to our teachers, and our heroes.

But none of that will result in art… unless we have the discipline to create.

To create not just in school, at a program out in the woods, or when the conditions seem just right.

But to create in the mess and uncertainty and pressures of our day-to-day lives.

To find a way to make time when there seems to be no time.

To create our lives as artists with the same passion and thought that fuels our art.

To build a habit of creation that lasts all our lives.

DETAILS: Creative Discipline Class

  • Twelve weeks.

  • 7 two-hour meetings.

  • A cohort of creatives.

A habit that can last a lifetime.

  • $475

  • Next start date: coming soon

  • The Discipline of Inspiration brings artists together to form a creative discipline that will last a lifetime.

    The fundamental commitment is not to attend meetings, but to make art.

    The final goal is not to complete a project, but to form a pattern of creation that lasts throughout our lives.

  • The Discipline of Inspiration is open to everyone—at all stages of life, from all genres, and at all levels of creative experience:

    Artists who want to re-examine long-time habits that may be growing stale.

    Artists who have always wanted to have a more consistent pattern of creation.

    Students who want to form a habit of creation before they leave school, when many art students stop making art at all.

    People who have always felt an impulse to create, and want to find ways to answer it.

    We believe that people learn best from those who aren’t just like us.

    Professionals have a lot to learn from those just starting out.

    People just starting out have a lot to learn from established artists.

    And all of us have a lot to learn from the unique experiences of everyone we meet.

  • The Discipline of Inspiration is a three-month program. Members meet every other week, virtually, for a total of seven two-hour meetings. They choose an artistic project, make commitments to create, share their experiences, and refine their artistic process into a habit that truly works for their lives. In the process, they learn how to refine their artistic habits again and again, so that they can maintain a discipline of creation throughout the many different seasons of their lives.

  • Research in habit shows that it takes about 60 days to create a habit, and that habits are best formed in community. Creating art will never be an unconscious and automatic habit, like brushing our teeth before bed. But this program uses both the power of habit and the power of thoughtful choices to help participants create a durable, flexible discipline that can support a lifetime of creation.

  • Three months of solid progress on a project of your choice.

    A well-established habit of creation, built specifically for you.

    A cohort of companions.

    The tools to create new habits as your life changes and shifts.

  • Sign up for a class, or let us know you’re interested in our next scheduled classes, by entering your email below.

Carey Wallace

Carey Wallace is the author of The Discipline of Inspiration (Eerdman’s), The Blind Contessa’s New Machine (Penguin), and The Ghost In The Glass House (Clarion). She works to help people from all walks of life find inspiration and build strong creative habits to sustain a lifetime of creation. She performs as a songwriter, exhibits her own fine art, and has spoken on art, faith, and justice with students at Princeton, Julliard, Emory, Pratt, and Yale. Her articles and poems have appeared in Time, Detroit’s Metro Times, and America. She is the founder of a retreat for artists in Michigan, and the Discipline of Inspiration creative discipline class, which has been in operation for over a decade across the US and internationally. She grew up in small towns in Michigan, and lives and works in Brooklyn.