SCAD President and founder Paula Wallace took to the podium at the SCAD Museum of Art Theater to speak about her new memoir, “The Bee and the Acorn.” President Wallace introduced and discussed her story as part of her current book tour to a standing-room-only auditorium Wednesday evening.
“Well contrary to what the title might suggest, this book is not a children’s story about a flying insect that goes on a magical journey with a talking tree,” Wallace explained. “But it is about a magical journey when a young schoolteacher from Atlanta steps through an impossible door and into a wonderland called SCAD.”
President Wallace said one of the most common questions she received as she wrote ‘The Bee and the Acorn’ was, “Is it scary to write a memoir?” Wallace affirmed it was a difficult process that required her to remember both wonderful moments of success as well as memories she would rather forget. 
“Yes, it can be frightening to put the story of your life out there, but like cupid, you have to trust your wings really will work,” Wallace said, motioning to an old photograph projected onto the theater screen of her dressed as a cupid when she was young.
“If there are any aspiring memoirist out there, just remember be fearless and tell your story with love,” Wallace advised. “‘The Bee and the Acorn’ is a love story and a love letter to SCAD and my family, and like any memoir, it’s also part detective story. Who am I? How did I get here? In many ways, every memoirist is writing a little bit about invention. What is a life? What makes a life? Who invented us? That’s what i’m going to talk about today.”
The theme of invention was central to Wallace’s lecture, in which she emphasized the importance of discovering ideas already inside the mind. As animated illustrations assisted Wallace in her narrative, the President offered students her advice and wisdom she found inside herself throughout her journey with SCAD.
“Today I want to share four lessons on how I found my own best ideas, and it’s my hope that this little talk will help you find your own best ideas,” Wallace said. “Well, the first lesson is perhaps the most difficult: improvise. I know as organized people, we don’t like to improvise. If you’ve every performed improvisational comedy though..you know the single most important rule of improv is ‘yes, and.’ Well what this means in any situation is agree with what your partner says and then add something of your own, but agreement is key. Saying ‘yes and,’ makes comedy and life more interesting.”
Several times throughout her lecture, Wallace read from her memoir, recounting how she first tinkered with the impossible concept of starting an arts school in an unfamiliar city.
“‘Let’s start a college for the arts,’ I said to my family when I was still in my twenties, ‘and let’s do it in a city where none of us have ever lived,’” Wallace recalled to her audience. “Well some families would have institutionalized me, but mine said, ‘yes, and.’”
Wallace described her parents, May and Paul Poetter, as expert improvisers and her two first hirees at SCAD. According to Wallace, they were already retired when she recruited them to help make SCAD a reality.
“They came down from Atlanta every weekend to help us with the building,” Wallace said. “Eventually we convinced them to come out retirement and help us with more than the building. This is how my parents came to work for SCAD. He is the first controller. She is the first admissions recruiter, roles they held for nearly twenty years. Not bad for retirees.”
Wallace said she and her new team found themselves saying “yes, and” at every turn during SCAD’s early years.
SCAD’s secret weapon when it first opened was its influx of outsiders, Wallace said. Wallace started to hire more outsiders to bring unique perspective and edge to the university. The President especially likes to hire those with a background in elementary education, her own profession before starting SCAD.
“What job is more important in society than teaching someone to read and write,” Wallace said. “Your best ideas are already inside you. Just look into your past. Well, when it came time to start SCAD, I looked into my past, and what I saw was an elementary educator.”
Written by Emilie Kefalas.
