denenge

Savvy Studio Guide to Superpowers: Unlocking Your Brilliance

Jumpstart your practice in the Year of the Fire Horse

With D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem*

I am now offering individual and group studio advising under the framework of the Savvy Studio Guide to Superpowers, the first flowering in a series that includes a workbook centering steps to identify your superpowers, areas of brilliance and challenge, spaces of potential growth, and foundational values that root your practice. This is a transdisciplinary offering that provides essential guidance to artists, writers, designers, and beyond.

Pre-order the Savvy Studio Workbook launching this Fall 2026 with support of a 3Arts Chicago 3AP Artist Project campaign.

This is about process. This is about YOU. Your work, your art, how you shine and move and create in the world. The Savvy Studio Guide to Superpowers helps you to identify and direct that powerful energy in your studio practice toward your goals and dreams. Step by step, beginning with the seed.

Those who have studied with me know the depth and breadth of my advising approach. Honed over two decades with students and mentees, my pedagogy is grounded in a deep understanding of global art histories and contextualized through expertise in a wide range of material and studio processes. Scroll down for what students are saying!*** Hailing from a diverse background in origin and in practice, I see patterns and connections that others may miss, guiding creative processes with individualized support and asking critical questions that help you move into greater understanding of your strengths and superpowers. You leave the meeting with a deeper understanding of your goals, visions, and skills and a clearer view of your practice rooted in identifying the core values that guide your work.

Savvy Studio’s Got You!

• • Wanted to study with me but didn’t have the opportunity? Savvy Studio’s got you!

• • Just about to graduate and could benefit from an in-depth discussion and review of your exhibition in preparation for next steps? Savvy Studio’s got you!

• • Missing the energy of studio visits and want to check in post-graduation? Even if it’s been a couple years, that’s fine and right on time! Savvy Studio’s got you!

• • Need support to get your studio practice back on track or could benefit from advice on a specific project, exhibition, or blockage? Savvy Studio’s got you!

• • Have an undergraduate or baccalaureate degree and want advice on applying to or navigating grad school from someone who has nurtured many graduate students, developed one-of-a-kind courses, and sat on numerous admissions, curatorial and selection panels? Savvy Studio’s got you!

• • Planning your curriculum for the new school year? Syllabus review consultations are available for those educators who want support in structuring their curricula and courses. Savvy Studio’s got you!

Newcomers (and all!) will benefit from my 20+ years of higher ed teaching experience within museums and academic institutions, as a curator, consultant and faculty career advisor, grounded in core liberatory pedagogy and the award-winning* curricula I have developed. In 2016, I was invited by then-Director of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Low Residency MFA Program Director Gregg Bordowitz to create the first graduating cohort art history class, Perception. I have offered a range of courses across schools internationally including Graduate Studio Seminar for which I combined studio practice, art history, and practical guidance rooted in years of experience running companies and building a successful art career.

Introductory Offer:

• • Individual sessions are 75 minutes each. $222 per session/$200 for returning students (those who have advised/studied with me prior to 2026). I strongly suggest a minimum of two individual sessions, especially for those who are new to the advising process. Guided materials from the Savvy Studio Guide to Brilliance will be provided to orient you to the process along with materials you share prior to the meeting. Sign up now!

• • Group sessions will accept 4 students per cohort, open to those who have studied with me in the past applying preferably as a self-selected group. Participants receive 4 sessions that include rare, valuable art history references along with guided questions and discussion. Two sessions are held as a group, and two sessions are offered individually, each 60 minutes, over the course of two months. $444 per person with confirmation of commitment to cohort. Gather your group and sign up now!

• • Syllabus Consultations are for educators who would like support in review and structuring their syllabi and/or curriculum to better reflect diversity and inclusion. Accepted on an individual basis. Contact ddenenge [at] gmail [dot] com for more information and to inquire about institutional use licensing. Join the list for updates and upcoming course offerings.

 

ACT NOW to jumpstart your practice today with Savvy Studio Guide to Superpowers!

• Submit your advising request here.

• Give the gift of Savvy Studio. Want to sponsor a friend or fellow student? Ideal as a graduation or birthday gift and to pay it forward for the next generation. (Note that all advising is pending approval of request form.)

• Sign up to join the list for updates on Savvy Studio offerings including courses

 

ABOUT

*D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem is the Founder of the acclaimed Camo Coat Collection + AFRIFUTURI 02022020. She is an educator, artist, designer, and historian who serves as curatorial, media and fashion consultant, centering holistic processes and histories of the Global Majority. She has taught and presented at institutions globally, and her work is part of key collections. From 2014-2025 she served as Associate Professor, Adjunct, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she received the 2018 Marion Kryczka Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2016 student- nominated DAG Inaugural Teaching Award for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion, and the 2021 Nexus Co-Teaching Award for the AIADO/ARTHI course Constructing Future Forms.

 

**New and returning students/clients will complete the brief form as linked above describing the area of desired focus along with select images of current work to orient us ahead of time and to confirm that this is a good fit.

 

***FEEDBACK

For over 20 years, 2000+ students and hundreds of thousands (even millions) have benefited from Denenge’s teachings and creative practice. What have they shared about their experience? Here is a small sampling of feedback from just one class out of many.:

• • Working with Denenge has been one of the most transformative academic/learning experiences I have gone through as part of my post-secondary education. Denenge is an outstanding artist, mentor and teacher. In each one of our meetings, I was impressed (often amazed) by her insightful feedback and guidance as she helped me to develop my artwork for the MFA show. The depth and breadth of her knowledge and experience would shine through during these sessions. I always felt energized and inspired for days after our discussions. The direction and growth of my work this semester was a product of Denenge’s steadfast commitment and continual engagement as an educator and creative mentor. She played an essential role in helping me explore new creative pathways. Many thanks, Denenge!

• • I was given specific artists or pieces of work to look into, reflect on and resonate with. The professor seemed to come to know my work and sensibilities quickly even from a distanced Zoom situation. She had artistic resources to suggest at her fingertips and followed through with sending recommendations.

• • Denenge’s suggested resources and insights about my work were INVALUABLE to my development this semester.

• • Denenge’s valuable experience in performance – spatially and theatrically – broadened the possibilities and directions to further explore my work.

• • Denenge helped me to see possibility and potential within my own work but also introduced me to many new artists and authors throughout the semester—wonderful and well-considered resources!

• • I gained insight and examples of how performance can be viewed and the potential for shifting who, how, what and where a performance can be.

• • Shifting the perspective of power structures all together is a wild important awakening. There were many concepts, processes and ideas that fostered the development of my work…Starting now from a new unknown investigative free space was what Denenge helped me find.

• • Creating or identifying “Touchstones” / “Values” I have as an artist. Then creating with these as frames or arterial devices that inform, reflect and guide the creative process.

• • Denenge always came to the table enthusiastic and REAL. I appreciated our honest conversations and felt safe talk gin about vulnerable things.

• • She provided much support and advice about the rights of an artist, drawn from her experience in the art world, that I value.

• • Learning to listen and trust oneself deeply, to be in the muck. Practice daily, weekly and connecting to the “playfulness”, freedom and zone of the creative process.

• • The deep dialogues I had with Denenge helped me to better frame the ways I was working and helped me think and speak differently about my work.

• • It is a phenomenal opportunity to be mentored closely by someone who can click into understanding your artistic practice. You gain feedback on your practice and can learn, change, develop your practice and yourself through the collaborative insight exchanged.

• • I think all Low-Res MFA students should have at least one course with Denenge before they complete the program. Denenge is extremely helpful in terms of providing resources and perspectives that are vastly different than other faculty, and this is important in stepping outside one’s comfort zone of art historical and art practice familiarity.

• • Denenge provided a great learning context because of this respect and inclusivity.

• • Always professional and respectful.

• • Warm, sincere, and fostering growth

• • It was a privilege to spend time with Denenge. She is incredibly nurturing, open, and supportive, and she’s able to draw from her experience which is vast and deep. I always enjoyed our conversations about design and personal history, and I learned about many things outside of my focus, including mysticism and ritual that I plan to further research.

• • I really appreciate the fact that I first met Denenge during the first summer of my LRMFA when she visited my studio and expressed genuine interest in my work. Denenge played a very important role in making for a memorable and very rewarding MFA experience. I consider her to be an essential part of the program faculty.

• • This course might change the world if everyone on the planet took it.

 

Pay-It-Forward Option:

Gift sessions TBD based on need for those who would like to study with Denenge but require support to do so. Your gift can make all the difference for someone’s creative path.

All content copyright 2026 D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem. No copy or reproduction may be made without permission.