As we celebrate our 10th Anniversary of the Wooster Collective website. we asked a group of artists who we showcased in the beginnings of the website the following question:

What's the one thing that you learned in the last decade that you had wished someone had told you 10 years ago?

The following response comes from a true master of the art of stenciling, Logan Hicks.

"Ignore opinions, even when they favor you

I've found over the years that the more you listen to people, the more complicated art becomes. When someone compliments your work, there is this silent obligation to continue doing that because you've found something that resonates with people. When people criticize you, you either continue doing what you're doing (even if it's unsuccessful) because you want to prove them wrong, or you immediately change what you're doing because you want to feel like what you're doing is on track. I've stopped asking what people think of my work until I am 100% certain of what it is that I want to paint because quite frankly, i don't care what they think. I don't make art for them, I make it for me. You always hope that the subjects or ideas that you paint have some common ground that others can relate too, but you can't strive to find that ground. You have to just paint what's in your head. I don't want any voices, opinions or people in my studio. Art is a solitary adventure and you need to remember that 50 years from now, the people giving opinions today will not be around any longer. You'll be the one that has to live with what you've created."... Logan Hicks