Because of Fletcher I was able to heal from a toxic emotionally abusive work experience.
Even though I hadn’t taken his classes, when I ran into him in Seoul while working at an art fair, I had been so lonely and isolated at the time I was so thrilled to see someone from MICA, and looking back reaching out to him was my way asking for help and support, both which he generously gave. This chance meeting eventually led to us working together in the MICA Korea summer intensive, and his patience, curiosity, interest, humor, and perceptiveness helped me remember and reaffirm exactly what a professor and mentor should be, and what we all as artists should strive to become as a mentor or instructor. This allowed me to unlearn all the toxic behaviors I had been previously subjected to, and reaffirm beliefs and thought processes I had gained at MICA that had been dismissed and devalued after. With Fletcher I felt listened to, understood, and empathized with, but never pitied. He was always actively interested in hearing and listening to the students and had great insight in what the students wanted and needed and what we needed to do in order to best support them, and looking back he seemed to know exactly what I needed, and how to help me find that for myself. No detail or task was beneath his notice, he would hear out the smallest questions and when he wasn’t sure if incoming freshman students could access the summer reading, he went to bookstores in Korea to investigate himself. He was exactly what an educator/mentor/friend should be, and on top of that he was a genuinely good person. Working with him made me want to listen more to others, communicate more and empathize more, and ask more leading questions. I learned so much from his example, and I plan to carry all that I learned from him in everything I do.
by Jenny Robinson