You do not have to know exactly where your education will lead before you begin. Artist and UC San Diego visual arts professor Janelle Iglesias entered college expecting to study medicine or public health. Instead, a job mixing glazes and loading kilns introduced her to ceramics—and helped open an entirely different path.

Iglesias grew up in Queens, New York, with a Norwegian mother, a Dominican father and neighbors from around the world. The objects in her home reflected those different cultures: a sweater handmade by an aunt, a painted gourd from the Dominican Republic, souvenirs and everyday items. They showed her that ordinary objects can carry memories, stories and connections to distant places.

While studying anthropology, Iglesias became interested in how people make and use objects. A trip to South Africa further changed her understanding of what artists can do. Learning about artists involved in the anti-apartheid movement helped her see that art could call attention to injustice, bring people together and help communities imagine a different future. Art did not have to be separate from public well-being.

In this program, Iglesias describes how collaboration has also shaped her work. While attending different graduate schools, Iglesias and her sister, artist Lisa Iglesias, mailed drawings back and forth like visual letters. Each sister added to, removed or painted over the other’s work. That experiment eventually grew into Las Hermanas Iglesias, an artistic partnership that has continued for two decades. They have also worked with their mother, whose knitting became a source of comfort after the death of their father.

That broader view of art now guides Iglesias’s teaching. She encourages students to combine work with play, remain curious and allow messy ideas to lead somewhere unexpected. Creative problem-solving matters whether or not someone becomes a professional artist.

For Iglesias, “sculpture is everywhere”—in our conversations, relationships, spaces and even the ways we shape ourselves. Her advice to young people is equally expansive: attend events beyond your field, explore unfamiliar subjects and find people who challenge and support you. A path does not have to be clear from the beginning. Curiosity, community and a willingness to start as a beginner can turn uncertainty into possibility.

Watch: Janelle Iglesias on Art, Identity and Collaboration

More from this series: Mi Camino: Latinx/Chicanx Speaker Series