day-to-day + as a teacher

1. eggo syrup container
2. strawberry
3. dollie
4. bobbin
5. doll dress
6. sunglasses
7. PX IMPOSSIBLE nigo film

fav: tie between the dollie and nigo film

it's time for a day-to-day project catch up. 7 weeks?!? i'm slacking in the posting about this department. but i haven't stopped yet. i'm more than 1/2 there - 52 here i come. AND it's been really fun to see blair take up a similar project. 




1. pocket knife
2. blue bear
3. lulu
4. bean flower
5. origami lotus
6. crumpled paper
7. snack bag

fav:: tie between blue bear and origami lotus

i was in my drawing class the other morning. it starts at 9am. this is hard for them. [was hard for me at that age too]. funny how 9 now is LUXURIOUS sleeping in.



1. spinach seeds
2. bento box sauce container [fish]
3. monkey
4. bamboo brush
5. bamboo quill
6. food in jars book
7. pineapple tomato from yard

fav :: food in jars

i found myself trying to energize the class. standing in front of them. almost like a stand up comic. saying the wackiest things i could to WAKE THEM UP. get them engaged.

part of my brain realized that i was acting just like a quintessential eccentric art teacher. you know. THAT one. the one that is quirky. that says things off the cuff just to see if you are paying attention. that has obviously tried to teach this exact technique/concept countless times before, but is managing to make it relevant [or at least trying to] in this very moment.

as i waxed on about the quality of line and my adoration for negative space i think i even said out loud something to the effect of : wow - i'm becoming that crazy art teacher... the students laughed.




1. plug
2. lunchbox
3. container
4. sunglasses
5. soy sauce
6. grape stem
7. pattern pencil

fav : lunchbox - it's the littles.

for the rest of the day i was thinking about this. what is the role of college professor art teacher? as i stand in front of my classes i would be naive to think that most of them will continue to make art for 5 years after their graduation.

is that important? not really. but it's an interesting fact. the drop off rate in art is immense. partially because i think it's such a struggle to keep at it. especially if as you get older you have dreams of owning a house, or a car, or having a family.

it's not EASY to make a living as an artist. ever. even harder to make work if no one looking at it and giving you feedback. even harder still if you have to have a day job to pay the bills and simply exist.


1. matches
2. blue stick
3. lightbulb
4. pre-k pasta necklace
5. tea bag
6. ring
7. chinese mustard

fav : pre-k pasta necklace

i often really wonder now what it is that my students want from their life. and why they are choosing art. especially the disengaged ones. the ones that have excuses for everything and who don't even really care about what they are putting on their pages. i'm not talking about caring about grades but what marks you are making.  how can you NOT CARE?? i remember feeling nervous, intimidated, not worthy - maybe that came off as not caring occasionally - but if it did that was a front. i always cared. deeply. because of what art did to me when i looked at it. if i could harness that power - even for one second - then that would be amazing. and i would try any method suggested to get to that place. that place of being able to make something that did something. said something. moved me. even better moved someone else.



1. apple from our tree
2. syringe and case
3. pop-up notes
4. pop-pop mini firecrackers
5. pink felt tank
6. rubberbands
7. flower

fav : tank

i think about my favorite teachers. the ones that not only inspired me by what they said, but by what they did.

the ones that seemed like REAL people. with lives. with likes. truthfully i was always drawn to the ones that had a sense of style too - wore cool clothes, or socks. or earrings or something...

the ones that impacted me were present. weren't afraid to seem stupid. said what they meant and meant what they said. they set high standards. made me laugh. made me look at art that i didn't think that i would like. made me think about art in a new way. pushed me - in ways both subtle and not so subtle to take risks. try things. jump off that cliff - even if i was petrified.





1. tonka sleeping
2. millie's paw
3. piece of yarn
4. eucerin
5. magnifying glass
6. blue whale curiousity shoppe mug
7. neko [F's puppet]

fav : piece of yarn [you can't really see it here, but oh well].

the best teachers met me at where i was at the time - but also helped to move me forward. when i showed interest, they responded. when i tried hard, they responded. when i asked for help they gave me just enough, but also forced me to figure things out for myself.

it's funny to think now that they were learning too. i NEVER imagined that. i never thought that this might be the 100th time they had talked about composition. that they might have been trying to think of a new way to present an age old idea - or craft a way for ME and only ME to understand a foreground/background relationship. that they might be SO sick of seeing the exact same kind of drawing, but knew that it was important to my development so they took as seriously as i needed them to.

i can only hope if i am authentic, if my enthusiasm for what is interesting in art shines through [even if it means i have to make a complete fool of myself]- 10 years from now a few of my students think that i was able to do for them what my best teachers did for me.