Gotta love the narrow-minded.

I had a sort of similar experience with a college professor a couple of decades back. He was a pottery guru and I wasn't particularly gifted in that area (art major here), nor did I spend 20 hours a week in the pottery studio (on top of a full-time schedule) to become one of his "mini me's". So I got shredded.

Good teachers or mentors are those who recognize your strengths and weaknesses and inspire and guide you to make the most of the gifts that you do have.

That professor and the "arteest" who slammed you, I have no doubt, are cut from the same moth-eaten cloth. Incredibly talented--to the point of being nearly unable to teach anyone anything, and completely blind to any other view. That type certainly doesn't tolerate what falls outside their tiny little box of jealous stardom.

It's a shame and a sorrow, really. I'm sorry that happened to you. I, for one, LOVE your work. Art should lift the soul's eyes to the heavens, to dream, to imagine, to believe, to become...