“Attuning students to vitally experiencing everyday life should be a goal of any systematic art education. Students will learn to notice and shape the world around them.” -Olivia Gude
One year ago, I left a MFA program in studio art to return to Tallahassee, FL and pursue my masters in Art Education. While I was going through a MFA program, I learned valuable lessons I will take with me for the rest of my life. First, I learned art does not exist in a vacuum--- it is an outflow of a full life. Second, I learned how much I (and I think all people) desire to contribute to a community. These two lessons have impacted the way I view life and consequently, teaching art.
Art does not exist in a vacuum.
In the drawing above, there is a woman with her head down on a desk. That was me in my studio during my MFA studies. A week after we arrived, we were told to go into a studio, make a piece of art every week, and have them all prepared to be judged in February. I had not made friends yet, nor discovered where the grocery store was! I was paralyzed in my artmaking. Art, I realized is an outflow of life. When you are not connected to your community (the place you are in and the people you are with), or what you are doing with your time, the chances of making art you care about is very low. I wondered for a while why I couldn’t make art that I loved like I did in college. It was because in college, I made art about my everyday life. And I loved my everyday life! I think the key is then, to help students love their life…see it as important and beautiful!
Because I have learned how art does not exist in a vacuum, I do not expect my art classroom to be my students’ life. No more drawing boxes for the sake of good perspective. Instead, I want my students to bring in their lived experiences into the classroom. Our communities are RICH with dynamic history and diversity. I want to dig into the roots of the place (physical or communal) where my students are, and help them be sensitive to it, to connect to it and to want to take care of it. Like I said earlier, I want them to love their life. Art is way more than perfect 2-point perspective, it is a way of being in the world that is attentive and thoughtful.
The desire to contribute to a community.
I believe everyone was created to uniquely contribute to the world. Whether that is with the mind of an electrician, the agility of a soccer player, or the soothing voice of a mother. Depression and Anxiety plague our society, and I think it has to do with the fact that students are not realizing their particular passions and gifts. Instead, they are hurried through school and taught where to make the most money. When I was in my MFA I was contributing some art work, and my time to a program, but I was not contributing what I believe to be my truest calling--- teaching art. Thanks to a professor who cared for me and saw my talents, I was encouraged to chase my dream of becoming an art teacher and I finally feel like I am contributing to my community in the way I was created to.
What does this mean for the art classroom?
The art classroom can be a place for students to find their true passions and calling. Making art and introspection often times goes hand in hand. One of my goals as a teacher is to help my students find their passions (through introspection) and empower them to use their passions to add value to the communities they live in. We contribute to our communities most when we are doing what we love and sadly, students do not receive that message today.
My first artistic contribution to my neighborhood!
I am so happy I am not alone in a studio for 6 hours a day forcing myself to make art. Now, I am turning my life into a work of art through building relationships, tending a garden, making public art for my neighborhood, creating art lessons for the future generation of my community, making dinner for my loved ones, and going on walks with a friend---doing what I love, in the place that I love! My art philosophy has been forever impacted by my time in Illinois. My deepest hope in teaching art is that my students learn who they are, what they love doing, how they can contribute to and feel empowering responsibility to their community, and how to love their daily life! What an honor.