I am currently in my 20th year as an art/photography teacher and artist. My own education was so miserable that it would not have predictably inspired a career in art or teaching.
My role constantly shifts from teacher to student, I am largely self-taught — my growth as an artist parallels the growth of my teaching craft. The experience and understanding for the craft of drawing, painting and photographing arose slowly from a painstaking process of trial and error. Essential components to this artistic development, such as perseverance, awareness, resourcefulness, excitement, openness, passion and the willingness to fail are all, not surprisingly, key ingredients to an effective teaching practice. In fact, creating and teaching share everything regarding process, language, materials and the studio/learning environment. Working as an artist and teacher, I am immersed and saturated in all things art every single day.
I define myself as an artist even while teaching, constantly absorbing the visual environment, memorizing its aspects by “drawing” in my mind or mentally working out visual problems of composition and design. Once one learns to see and think like an artist, the process is never deactivated. Maintaining one’s artistic nature while instructing allows the teacher to access the reservoir of the artist’s knowledge and experience to meet the immediate needs of the students. The artist as teacher is a powerful and important role model whose professional identity helps to motivate students and provide them with a concrete example for artistic possibilities.
By empathetically putting myself back in my own student shoes, recalling how I learned, I try to help students connect with their subject matter, become comfortable with ambiguity and failure, understand and appreciate the artistic process as a journey, and define their strengths and weaknesses.
As an artist-teacher, witnessing my students’ artistic transformations and expansion of skills enriches me, and I appreciate the sense of community and belonging they give me. Art functions well as a vehicle of communication and connection, allowing us to create bonds and know each other. I wholeheartedly enjoy participating in their lives and sharing their excitement and joy as they grow and discover themselves through digital media, how ever one shins.
Mrs Mc
