People often ask me why I teach, why not make a living as a professional artist? There are many layers to the answer, but the most important one, to me, is simply the students. Teaching offers so much to an artist. The art classroom is a vibrant studio full of passionate individuals who share the desire to make. This community feeds the artist in both the student and the teacher. I believe that art is as essential to human existence as breathing. According to Ellen Dissanayake, "Art is a normal and necessary behavior of human beings and like other common and universal occupations such as talking, working, exercising, playing, socializing, learning, loving, and caring, should be recognized, encouraged and developed in everyone. Via art, experience is heightened, elevated, made more memorable and significant." Yet, our society does not place a value on the arts that is commensurate with this. When budgets are tight, the arts are the first to be reduced or cut all together. It is my hope that my former students will carry the understanding of this intrinsic value with them throughout their lives and become advocates for the arts.
As a teacher, I take the role of facilitator and mentor rather than leader or instructor. I provide students with tools and skills that allow them to be confidant in finding their own voice and understanding the power of discovery. I believe that this helps students develop the persistence and resilience that they need to be successful in whatever they do. I believe that a strong technical background is an important foundation for the successful development of strong conceptual works. The combination of a strong foundation and increasing autonomy prepares students' portfolios for college admission or scholarship and the students themselves for college and careers.
Going back to the essential human need to create and the proliferation of visual stimuli in our world, I am also an advocate for arts integration. Students learn more when they see connections between the many subjects that they are taking. Art helps students make these connections. It also teaches them creative problem solving and divergent thinking strategies. Learning to think, write and speak critically about art, and by extension any subject, is important in this as well. Lastly working collaboratively and being a member of a community is a skill taught through art as well. The real goal here I think is to develop productive members of society who are literate, compassionate and motivated to be successful.
As a teacher, I take the role of facilitator and mentor rather than leader or instructor. I provide students with tools and skills that allow them to be confidant in finding their own voice and understanding the power of discovery. I believe that this helps students develop the persistence and resilience that they need to be successful in whatever they do. I believe that a strong technical background is an important foundation for the successful development of strong conceptual works. The combination of a strong foundation and increasing autonomy prepares students' portfolios for college admission or scholarship and the students themselves for college and careers.
Going back to the essential human need to create and the proliferation of visual stimuli in our world, I am also an advocate for arts integration. Students learn more when they see connections between the many subjects that they are taking. Art helps students make these connections. It also teaches them creative problem solving and divergent thinking strategies. Learning to think, write and speak critically about art, and by extension any subject, is important in this as well. Lastly working collaboratively and being a member of a community is a skill taught through art as well. The real goal here I think is to develop productive members of society who are literate, compassionate and motivated to be successful.