Some Thoughts on Teaching 120811

The reason I teach technique only, instead of teaching exactly how I create, is so that the students vision is extracted into the work, NOT mine.  The approach I have taken to teaching has led to frustrations in my classes and workshops, I just recently realized this from a discussion with a former student, because many do not realize that their inner vision deserves a voice.  She revealed that she took the class, a mixed media 3D class, believing that she would basically be creating a replica of  one of my works "Pet Cemetary".  Instead what she got was a class where she was encouraged to draw upon her own vision, creating her own original art.  The result was after much contemplation she quit her job and is now persuing creating her own art full time. Once the inner vision was revealed it could no longer be kept silent.

So on behalf of those of use who have barely influenced you, we may have influenced you far greater than you'll ever realize.  The teachers I've had, in the past be it at the university, in workshops, etc., that I now respect the most are the ones that demanded that I draw on my own vision, not theirs.  The teachers I respect the least are the ones that demanded that their way was the only correct way.