When Dina Sturm arrived at the New York Academy of Art in 2017, she had already spent years painting on her own — self-taught, instinct-driven, resistant to anything that felt academic. What she found at NYAA surprised her. “I expected to be given rules,” she says. “Instead I was given tools.”

Sturm’s paintings now hang in collections across the country. Her recent solo show at a Bushwick gallery sold out within its first week. But she is still thinking about her time at NYAA, still processing what transferred from the classroom into her daily practice. Body text continues, additional paragraphs follow here. Body text continues, additional paragraphs follow here. Body text continues. Body text continues.