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Who is the Grand Poobah?
Michael Shumate speaks at colleges and universities on the subject of Success in the Arts with talks like "What It Takes to Make It," "Creativity: What It Is and What It Isn't" and "Do I Have Enough Talent?". He sobers you up, loosens you up and fires you up at the same time. He's the author of "Success In The Arts: What It Takes To Make It In Creative Fields."
"The first day of teaching any new students, I tell them to call me Michael, not Professor Shumate or Mr. Shumate. Then I tell them if they forget my name, they can always call me the Grand Poobah. That always gets a laugh from them. It establishes a rapport with my students. They know that even though I have much to teach them, I don’t take myself too seriously. Their respect for me will be earned and ego games are not something we’ll be playing."
A. Michael Shumate is a career graphic designer and illustrator whose work is used all over the world. For the last nineteen years he has also been a Professor of Graphic Design and Illustration at St. Lawrence College. Son of an artist and a musician, husband to a music teacher, and father to more musicians, filmmakers, a writer, a fine woodworker and a photographer, the principles that Michael teaches apply equally to all of the arts. And he manages to do it in a down-to-earth style. One minute you’ll be probing deep questions you’ve always wanted to understand and the next you are laughing like you are in a fireside chat. In spite of the complex material he deals with, Michael makes it amazingly light, understandable and memorable.
For more about Michael's professional background, see his Bio.
