During the past month, I’ve been teaching a class on painting light and colour in pastels. Obviously, that has given me less time to paint, and to keep up with this blog. Why would one teach – for free – and not create one’s own art?
For me personally, there are three main reasons:
First, it is a Challenge, and I thrive on challenges. It wakes me up from complacent couch-potato lethargy. It is also great fun, plain and simple. I enjoy interacting with the students, and it is a nice feeling to be “the guru” for a short while.
Some of the challenges are:
To plan lessons , do research, and find a good enough structure to work within. I’ll only mention this, as there could be pages written on that subject alone.
To really remember how it was to be a rookie, in order to not throw jargon around and take understanding for granted.
To find good visual examples that illustrate the points. Luckily, I’ve had the habit for a long time to take photos of the development of each painting I make. I did it for me, so I could chart failures and progress, but those photos sure came in handy when teaching, as they are all mine, and no copyright issues involved.
To find the right balance between praise and encouragement on one hand, and to give helpful hints respectfully on the other hand. Many of us (definitely including myself) do not thrive on critique alone. It is very important to stay out of criticism altogether, as that is a form of putting down people. Relevant critique, and lots of praise and encouragement will make students to want to learn and grow. I think the ratio needed might be 1 critique per 10 hoorays, just to give a feeling of neutrality, and more than 10 praises to be perceived as positive.
To teach accomplished artists and beginners in the same class. Basics have to be covered, but there also need to be some real challenges for those who have painted for 30 years. One way to solve it is to mark some tasks as “advanced”, or “very advanced”. Rookies are told to skip those.
The second reason has to do with developing people, and developing people-skills:
To learn how to respect people's needs: They will try things out, and not listen to my golden words of immense wisdom. They will try things I tried when I was new at it – those things I know, all too well, won’t work. I may tell them it won’t work, and they’ll say ‘yes’ and go ahead and do it anyway. And I remember that only by doing will they really know. After all, they are just like I was, and to be honest, am.
To learn from my students: As they try things out, they will successfully pull off something I thought would never work. So I say to myself: “Be humble, admit you were wrong, and ask them how they did it. Your credibility as an honest person who is to be trusted will be firmly established by your willingness to learn.”
I know it is important to model how to learn.
And the third reason is to give on a gift:
As I was given the gift by my teacher to really see the glory and beauty in light and colour, I want to give that onwards. In one way, I do it in and with every painting that finds a new home. But when a struggling student suddenly sees, and the pure delight of discovery and understanding is lit in their souls, shining out through their eyes – that is when I get my biggest reward. I know that for the rest of their lives, they’ll see beauty everywhere around us, even in the most mundane settings. To be instrumental in sparkling true joy is a great gift given to a teacher. Hoarding the ‘secret’ would’ve left me poor indeed, but now I’m vastly enriched, and I could only get this richness by giving the gift of seeing colour and light onward, sharing it with others. Shared joy is multiplied joy!
