Online Arts Education: The Daca Daguao Academy of Arts

by El Profesor | Aug 16, 2026 | Academy Foundation

Online arts education is changing.

It’s no longer just about random tutorials on YouTube or unstructured activities. The Daca Daguao Academy of Arts was founded on June 1, 2026, with a clear purpose: to offer artistic training with academic rigor, recognized standards, and a global perspective.

I am not a corporation. I am an educator with an MFA, years of classroom experience, and a firm belief: art can be taught freely, without compromising excellence.

High School Art Courses with UC A-G Credit

Currently, the academy offers two courses open to the public: Fundamentals of Art (available in Spanish and English) and The Mischievous Graphite, a beginner’s drawing course for young people.

But the heart of the project lies in three advanced courses that are currently under development:

My goal is to obtain UC A-G accreditation (Area F) so that these courses will be recognized as high school credits. I’m also aiming for NCAA accreditation and, in the future, AP art courses.

Placement Test in Progress

For students with prior knowledge, I am designing a placement test that will allow them to skip levels. This system is still a work in progress, but it is part of my commitment to educational flexibility.

Five Pillars of Online Arts Education

All of the academy's courses are based on five fundamental requirements:

1. National Core Arts Standards (NCAS)

Each module aligns with the four artistic processes: Creating, Presenting, Responding, and Connecting. It is not art for art's sake; it is art with a proven pedagogical structure.

2. Global Cultural Diversity

Students explore traditions from India, China, Pakistan, Africa, Japan, Latin America, Indigenous art (Australian Aboriginal, Native American), and the Middle East. The world is the classroom.

3. Careers in the Arts and the Impact of AI

I don't train artists for the 19th century. Each course covers real-world careers: from traditional illustrator to immersive experience designer. AI isn't a threat; it's a tool we tackle head-on.

4. UC A-G Credit (Area F)

The courses meet the standards of the University of California, opening doors to higher education.

5. Focus on Young Artists

The content is accessible without being patronizing, motivational without being superficial, and professional without being overwhelming.

Tiered membership plans to suit every need

The academy offers four membership levels: Curious, Create, Grow, and Sowing. All include access to all recorded courses. The higher-tier memberships also include one-on-one sessions with an instructor.

The Siembra membership is designed specifically for homeschooling families, because I understand that they are looking for flexibility without sacrificing depth.

Geolocation-Based Pricing: Accessible Arts Education Around the World

Art shouldn't be a luxury reserved for those who can afford U.S. or European prices. That's why the academy has a geolocation-based pricing system: the cost of membership is adjusted to reflect the cost of living in the student's country.

For example, students in the Philippines pay what education costs in their country, not the U.S. price. The system detects the actual origin of the connection (including VPNs) to ensure that the benefit reaches those who truly need it.

As the academy is translated into Russian, Hindi, Mandarin, French, Portuguese, Turkish, Tagalog, Ilokano, and Arabic, this model will expand to more countries.

Also for artists in transition

Although my primary focus is on young people and homeschooling families, the academy is also for artists who have been displaced by corporate restructuring or automation. Here, they find a space for retraining and professional development without having to start from scratch.

My Story: From the Classrooms of Memphis to the Global Academy

I don't come from an ivory tower. I come from the classroom. In 2019, after years in the U.S. education system, I realized that change wouldn't come from within, but from outside.

I am inspired by educators like Ron Clark and Jaime Escalante, who demonstrated that excellence stems from passion and perseverance. In Memphis, I helped build one of the most successful art departments in the United States in just four years. That experience taught me that progress must be sustainable and not depend on a single administration.

Today, I apply that lesson at the Daca Daguao Academy of Arts, using a model that transcends school administrations and political cycles.

Who is this academy for?

• Homeschooling parents looking for art courses with UC A-G accreditation.
• School districts that lost their art departments.
• Young people who want more than just a grade: they want a portfolio and a voice of their own.
• Experienced artists who need to reinvent themselves.

Conclusion: Art is not learned through fear; it is learned through freedom.

Online arts education for homeschoolers is alive and well—and it's here. I don't promise empty credentials; I promise real tools, tangible portfolios, and a worldview that embraces all cultures.

Today, the academy is my personal endeavor. Tomorrow, it will grow. But the commitment remains the same: to train visual thinkers, not mere executors of instructions.

Welcome to the Daca Daguao Academy of Arts.
Where art isn't learned through fear. It's learned through freedom.

The opening of the Daca Daguao 4D Academy:

by El Profesor | May 31, 2026 | Academy Foundation

Table of Contents

Prior to my research on educational environment

Daca Daguao 4D academy opening brings home education, traditional fine arts and modern digital arts

Following my research on educational environment

The opening of the Daca Daguao 4D Academy is not a point of arrival. It is a turning point. A decision to turn more than a decade of experience in U.S. public schools and a university into something new: a space to train artists, support homeschooling families, and prepare talent for my own animation studio.

It has not been a straight path. But here I am.

My Story in the Classroom: 2007 to 2023

I started in 2007 as an elementary school art teacher. I finished in 2023, in Oregon, at a high school. In between, I was an adjunct instructor at Washington State University (2016-2017). All in all, over a decade of seeing the visual arts treated as a minor adjunct in educational systems that prioritize other things.

That experience taught me what I don't want to do. And also what I do.

Homeschooling: a belief I will put into practice

I have never been a teacher of homeschoolers. But I have done a lot of research on the subject. I've read about their needs. And I firmly believe that homeschooling, supplemented with sports, arts and cultural activities in the afternoons, is one of the best ways to form well-rounded people.

That's why, in this academy, I will design materials specifically for homeschool families. And I will do so following the standards of the National Association of Art Educators (NAE), so that parents can submit valid credits to the U.S. Department of Education without worry.

A shelter for displaced artists... and future employees

Not everyone who will come to the academy is a young person or a parent. I will also create learning paths for displaced artists - people who lost their place in the creative industry or never found one.

The goal is clear: for the most outstanding students to find employment at Daca Daguao Digital Design, my animation studio. The academy will train. The studio will hire. That's the circle I'm building.

Traditional visual arts and modern digital arts: a bridge over the border

We live in a time where returning or staying in the artistic field is difficult. There are many frontiers: economic, technological, generational. That is why I speak of a bridge over the border. I don't separate the traditional from the digital. A student can start with pencil and charcoal, and then migrate to a tablet.

And beware: the software is not professional. The artist is. I will teach both free (open source) and proprietary tools. The difference is one: access. Not quality.

What I'm designing right now

Today I have one course completed: Fundamentals of Art, which we launch on June 1, 2026. And I am actively working on six intermediate courses:

• Pencil Drawing
• Charcoal Drawing
• Pastel Drawing
• Watercolor Painting
• Oil Painting
• Acrylic Painting

Each will follow NAE standards, with personalized feedback and flexible modalities: asynchronous, synchronous or face-to-face one-on-one.

A human detail: write this calmly

Life takes many turns. There were losses, falls, projects that didn't work out. But there was also a decision: adapt or be left behind. I chose to adapt.

Today I am writing this from the Philippines. Not from a beach with coffee. But from a place where I can have this kind of calm more often. The pace here is different. And I like the idea of a big adventure: maybe moving. I haven't decided, but I'm thinking about it.

And she, Tan-Vargas, is by my side. She will be the queen who inherits my fruit. And who knows... maybe someday there will be little ones who will inherit the fruit along with her. I only say that to leave a seed of curiosity.

The important thing is that today I can write this with calm. Because after the storms, one values peace.

Your next artistic adventure starts here

I want to invite you to sign up. It doesn't matter if you are a young person looking for your path, an adult who wants to take up art again, a homeschool family in need of reliable materials, or a displaced artist looking to reinvent yourself.

There's a place for you here. And who knows: maybe you'll be one of those new colleagues I'll hire for a studio project someday.

👉 S ign up here: https://dacadaguao4d.academy/cuenta-de-membresia/niveles-de-membresia/
🎬 Meanwhile, the film Traces Retraced is still in production → traces-retraced.film
🏢 And the studio is still moving → dacadaguao4d.com

Rescuing an Academy of Art, and making it 1st on the list.

by El Profesor | May 28, 2023 | Academy Foundation

Today is May 28, 2023. I am rescuing an art academy. My own.

Just two months ago, in March, I signed the divorce papers. A marriage that started out hopeful and ended up falling apart as I tried to hold it together with one hand and my career with the other. In April I was notified that I would not continue as an ESL teacher in Delaware - I had barely been in that position for four months. Two strokes in less than 60 days.

I was without a partner, without a job and, for a few days, without direction.

But I was also left with something that no one can take away from me: 11 years of teaching experience - non-linear, back and forth, but solid. I started teaching fine arts, then commercial arts. I was a college professor in commercial arts. I also taught two years in high school as a commercial arts CTE teacher. The rest of the time - eight years, here and there - I was out of the system, surviving, learning on my own, falling down and getting up without anyone seeing me.

During those years within the system I saw how the visual arts were used as a "repository" for students who had already given up. I myself began to give up in those classrooms. But when I lost the position at Delaware, something changed: I no longer had anything to lose.

That's why today I'm rescuing this dream: to found my own online art academy.

Years ago I wanted to create an online art academy. A place where teaching was not bureaucratic choreography, but practice, research, and real connection between instructor and student. Where educational standards - like those of the National Association of Art Educators of America (NAEA) - were not a dead requirement, but a living guide to measure progress.

The technical plan (what I have already designed)

The online art academy will be 100% online, at least at first. I have defined seven class formats:

1. Individual asynchronous without assistance
2. Individual asynchronous with instructor assistance
3. Group asynchronous with assistance from other students
4. Group asynchronous with assistance from instructor and other students
5. Group synchronous with fixed schedule, instructor and other students
6. Virtual face-to-face between student and instructor
7. (Future) Individual attendance

Supported hardware: iPad, Android tablets, Microsoft Surface. I will also explain how to use an iPad as a graphics tablet connected to a MacBook, and a Surface connected to a PC with open source programs like Krita.

Software: Open source (Krita, Blender) and proprietary (Procreate, Clip Studio Paint). In the intermediate and advanced courses we will go deeper into 3D tools.

Curriculum: I will begin with intermediate and advanced art courses, because students who already have a foundation deserve to continue to grow. Next will come foundation courses for beginners and homeschoolers, aligned with NAEA standards. All intended as an online art school for those looking for something different from traditional classrooms.

The emotion that does not fit in a curriculum

But all this wouldn't be true if I didn't tell you how I feel today, May 28, 2023, as I write this in a small apartment that I still don't know if I'll be able to keep for the next month.

I'm scared. And I'm also alive like I haven't been in years.

Losing my marriage and my job in the same quarter could have destroyed me. Instead, I have been drained of everything I don't need: the excuses, the waiting, the false security of a fixed salary in a system that does not respect art. Now all that's left is the dream. And me.

I put the online art academy at the top of my list. There is no plan B. There is no "if it goes wrong, I look for another school." There is this, or this.

Someone, in the future, may read this post and smile. Maybe he or she will see a table in front of the sea, a cup of coffee, and understand that all this -the chaos, the falls, the divorce papers, the dismissal- was the floor from which something worthwhile was built. But I'm not writing that today. Today I am only writing this: I am rescuing a dream.

May 12, 2026 - Three years later, this online art academy went from a rescued dream to a reality. [You can read the continuation here].

Thank you for reading. If you too are in the middle of a storm and decide to build something, let me know in the comments. You are not alone.

- Gerardo Vargas
DacaDaguao 4D Academy - under construction