Art Blog - Tales from the Art Side

Of the countless duties and responsibilities a teacher must address on a daily basis, the most frequent would undoubtedly be the task of answering questions. This is, after all, an extension of the fundamental role of a teacher; to convey knowledge, to relay information, and to resolve uncertainty. In fact, the volume of queries that are proposed to a teacher on any given day can be remarkably overwhelming. There have been numerous occasions in which I felt as though I had to consciously strain to keep my own eyes from crossing by the end of a class, simply because of the barrage of questions I had sustained. As teachers though, we must be incredibly cautious about how we endeavor to address these requests… Continue reading… 1 comment

I had been waiting my entire career for the chance to teach a painting class and it wasn't until last year that I was finally presented the opportunity. The same was true for a colleague of mine, Cindy, who had been waiting for her chance even longer than me. Needless to say we went into the assignment with a great deal of enthusiasm and anticipation about how we would teach the course. I've seen painting classes taught before that were very prescriptive in the projects that were required of the students. Each student, for example, might be expected to paint a still life, followed by a landscape, and then a self portrait. There is nothing inherently wrong with teaching a class in this manner; in fact, a majority of the classes I teach myself follow a curriculum of assigned projects… Continue reading… 13 comments

I was informed a few months ago by a colleague at the local university that there was a chance I could be supervising a student teacher this coming fall. Initially I was very intimidated by this prospect as it would be my first occasion hosting a student teacher and I was uncertain if I was ready for the responsibility. I've always strived to be very personally reflective of my teaching style and have functioned under a credo of never teaching a class the same way twice. I challenge myself to try and constantly be tinkering, tweaking, and adjusting my instructional processes and aesthetic motivations. Being one of five art teachers in a single school has undoubtedly made these efforts much easier by providing a wealth of influences and inspirations… Continue reading… 3 comments

Some aspects of teaching kids art are quite obvious and straight-forward: the correct way to hold a linoleum cutter; using gel medium when painting a thick impasto; or mixing a hue with its complement to dull the color slightly. These are the kind of facts and techniques students must acquire to ensure proficiency within a given media. This kind of information is essentially the first order of knowledge in the hierarchy of aesthetic understanding, and it answers the artistic query of how to create. (How do I sculpt this form? How do I draw a face? How do I clean a brush?) Typically, the necessary skills are demonstrated by the teacher and then replicated first hand by the students… Continue reading… 3 comments

There are two distinct areas of study to focus upon when teaching kids art production: the technical, and the analytical. The far easier of the two is the technical aspects of whatever media is being explored in a given project. Demonstrating and familiarizing student s with the various processes and procedures associated with a specific medium is always fun and relatively straightforward. Typically the students are excited to get to work and dive into their projects eager to make a calculated mess with the newly discovered materials. It is only then that a majority of them realize they lack the second and more important ingredient of art making: the ever illusive idea… Continue reading… 6 comments

The title of this article might suggest that I'll be exploring some kind of compelling Freudian doctrine concerning moral phobias. I'm afraid, however, that my topic is nowhere near as intriguing and will entirely circumvent discussing either the id or the ego. This is a blog about teaching kids art, and thus the values of which I speak are the light and dark variants of tone. Admittedly, the concepts of tint and shade appear rather innocuous, but it has been my experience that these artistic principles unsettle the nerves of a vast majority of beginning drawers. While this fear may be more pronounced in some students, it often manifests itself in the same predictable behavior… Continue reading… 2 comments

It is my opinion that self reflection is perhaps one of the most important attributes of a successful teacher. This characteristic is essential because it bears so heavily on the overall quality of education an instructor provides. Whether successful or not, I believe the culmination of every project should lead to some degree of reflective thinking on the part of the educator. These introspective inquiries should be motivated by a sincere desire to further improve the instruction, application, and outcomes involved in the lesson. And I find, more often than not, that the one factor requiring modification or revision is the method in which I am presenting the project… Continue reading… 3 comments

My slightly askew and easily distractible mind often compares the process of teaching kids art to swimming against the current of a rapidly churning river. The implications of this analogy might suggest that I feel some kind of affinity with salmon and the determined effort they make swimming up stream each mating season. The fact is, I do not. The salmon perseveres so that they can eventually spawn, whereas I would simply like a teenager to be able to tell the difference between an abstract painting and a non-objective one. But before I get myself hopelessly off topic, allow me to try and illustrate my point. Teaching kids art, or any subject for that matter, is similar to paddling across the current in that it requires an exorbitant amount of effort… Continue reading… 6 comments

I've previously written about the enviable enthusiasm of children and the contagious excitement evident both in their art, and their art making. I believe there is another important lesson embedded in that subject, and it's one that I'm reminded of nearly every single day in my vocation. The scope of this lesson extends beyond my professional boundaries of teaching kids art and often convicts me in my personal life as well. Its significance is also deeply rooted in my firm belief that all educators, regardless age or subject area, must remain candidly self-reflective about everything we do in our role as teachers… Continue reading… 3 comments

He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches. George Bernard Shaw is credited with this line from his 1903 play Man and Superman, although it is unknown whether this was actually the opinion of Shaw, or merely a line of dialogue for one of his many characters. Either way, it is a platitude that still finds its way into our modern conversations with a great degree of regularity. And while there is no definitive way to determine how many believe this sentiment, the fact that it shows no sign of fading into obscurity after a century of use says a great deal. Misconceptions like this one are so unfortunate because not only are they fueled by ignorance, but they perpetuate it as well… Continue reading… 7 comments