Teaching

Robert Genn today was talking about a painting class given on a boat and his wish for a student who has never picked up a brush so he could turn them into a great painter by avoiding mistakes:

Art is a never-ending maze where wrong turns can hinder for decades. With the current democratization and the widespread triumph of individualism, many artists simply stay mired. So many choices, so many wrong turns--unless of course you are one of those believers who think there is no such thing as a wrong turn. 

At workshops, floating or otherwise, the most progress is made by students who can simply see with fresh eyes. They are not so stuck with an inner vision whose planks may be riddled with past mistakes. For a few days at least, they are not so in love with their own treasured styles. These folks can pump out their gnarly bilges and look at things a bit differently. During the encounter they keep busy with a mildly competitive abandon. Fast learners, they find overhearing to be as good as hearing. Wise students filter what they need from the itinerant instructor, who may himself be mired in his own lifetime of wrong turns.

In all my years of schlepping and teaching all over the country I never wanted to have someone so new that I could start from the beginning.  In fact I liked teaching those students who had struggled, who were making mistakes, who needed a shove so they could move on.  It takes an open mind to be at the place that recognizes that help is needed and a willingness to discover where the wrong turn was taken.

I'll never forget one woman years ago, and I cannot even remember where this was any more, but we were making jackets in this workshop.  I had told them to bring their fabric scraps, and the more the better so we could pick and choose from a broad pallet of color.  The women happily opened their suitcases of perfectly laundered new coordinated yardage and were admiring each others choices.  And amazingly every one had yards and yards of stuff.  I quickly ran to my supply list that had been sent out weeks before to check if it was the wrong one...  nope, it said:

"Many scraps, leftovers, out-takes, this and thats, fabrics to share, fabrics to get rid of.  Teacher will bring her scrap bag too"

I dumped my scrap bag onto a center table and it exploded all over and onto the floor.  You would have thought the ladies were getting coins from heaven as they stampeded the table!  I told them they were welcome to anything they found but they had to replace whatever they took with scraps of their own and so far all I saw was 'folding fabric'- pieces to large to ever be called scraps.  Told them they would have to generate scraps first.  (And I also saw a few palm what they had already grabbed!)  And so I went suitcase to suitcase and did a lesson explaining the difference between 'coordinated' and 'compatible'.  And made a blanket RULE that 'coordinated' was not gonna happen in my class OR in their jacket!  They hated me.  They fought me tooth and nail.  I had two days of distain, and it was like performing root canals on every student to get them beyond what 'goes' and instead to improvise and try something new.  To GO BEYOND previous mistakes and try something new.

By Day 3 they were beginning to 'get it'.  Their color combinations were singing new songs because by restraining the likely choices, they were throwing abandon to the winds and finding delicious new little ideas tucked here and there.  And all on their own because all I did, according to one woman, was restrict them!  Heh heh.  We were all laughing hysterically until she realized what she said.  I am still in touch with her occasionally and tease her constantly about her 'restrictive' lessons!