As an art teacher of eight children's classes per week (without an art ed degree mind you) I made a sort of private vow to myself that students would come away with a better understanding of the art world and really, in general, the world at large. Meaning, even though its really fun and easy to make marshmallow snowmen (see below) the large majority of classes need to focus on the seriousness and real importance of art and artists.
On that note we have made Lascaux cave paintings, Greek red figure vases, papier mache sarcophagi, Inuit owls, Chinese ink landscapes, Yoruba beadworks, Mexican tin tiles, Goldsworthy leaf collages, Charley Harper illustrations, Van Gogh night paintings, and Calder circuses, among other things. I'm not sure that even 50% of what I have attempted to express to them has been understood in words. But I am very proud of the respect they give their art through their best efforts every class, captured non verbally in the work below:
And so even though I know there will be days where the energy just flows right out of the room and all we can muster are edible snowmen, I know the large majority of days we will learn a lot from each other about this crazy business of art making and after a long holiday break, I will be happy to be back.
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