Art & the Classroom

Today is the  last day of an art class that I signed up for back in September. It's been a hell of a ride, for I entered this class with very few expectations because, quite frankly, my drawing skills have never been good. Except for a small amount of cartooning ability, I've never been able to draw much of anything.

This was also my first time in a classroom as a student in nearly three years. After several years as the teacher it was quite an education to be behind a desk again. Each time the instructor did something or demonstrated a skill to a class I kept thinking to myself, 'If it was me, I would have done it differently.' I suppose that's inevitable for any teacher when watching another practitioner of the craft. We all have different styles of running a classroom, and no two teachers are the same, just as no two people are the same.

So what did I learn? Well, I learned that three-dimensional art is a lot harder than I'd first believed. Making the object appear real enough to pluck off the paper is tough, and I've also discovered that creating a straight line on the paper is not always the best thing to do. There are curved lines, vanishing points, foreground, backgrounds, slugh points, and lots of other variables which all converge to make the picture.

I've also learned that the instructor of this class has a lot to learn. Thus far I've caught him ignoring pupils, not giving praise, passing over chatterboxes that I would have silenced, talking to the board instead of the students, giving complicated directions without realizing it, and doing things quickly that should have been given incrementally to help slower students (such as myself). I've also learned that while he is an artist in his own right, he's not very learned in certain areas. I myself prowl through the commercial galleries and have love of surreal, cartoon, and fantasy art. My own computer is chock-full of jpegs of Angus McKie, Stu Sheppard, Rowena, James Warhola, R. Crumb, and Michael Whelan. The instructor knows Frank Frazetta, but not much else.

Still, he and I have had some great conversations about art, and I've enjoyed talking about the subject with him. He was also tickled to have another teacher in his class, and numerous times when he's left the room for one reason or another he has quipped, "Take over for me." So, that's what I've done. When he's out I've moved around the room, praising those who deserve it, or chatting up one student or another. Their reactions have moved from surprise to outright thanks for having been noticed. When the instructor has returned, he seems oblivious to the happy discourse going on in his room.

My own artistic skills have gotten better, and hopefully I'll be able to take what I've learned into my own classes at some near date. However, I'll be doing so on my own terms, not his. But then, I suppose everyone does that. It's the nature of art everywhere.