Artists Needed

I have been thinking a lot about art lately.  Actually, I always think about it because, well...I love art.  As a kid, I used to spend hours drawing, then I would get a chair from the kitchen table and put a sign on it that said “ART SALE”.  I would set out all of my masterpieces and charge my brothers and sisters mere pennies (literally) to own my hard work.  They never bought them...I take that back.  After a while, my oldest sister would take pity on me and buy the whole lot of pictures- for about a quarter. I didn’t care, though.  I was just happy that somebody appreciated the pictures.  

Art has always been an arena of dangerous ideas, and maybe that is why I am drawn to it.  The impressionists completely disrupted the art world of Paris with their crazy ideas about how color and light could be used.  If you don’t know much about this period, read The Judgment of Paris--it is really fascinating.  The thought that people could cause such unrest and discomfort and fear simply because they wanted their art to be seen excites me.  

A few years ago, I read Seth Godin’s book The Icarus Deception, and it changed the way I look at my work.  The book is about how our economy and way of operating has changed and how what is wanted in today’s world is ….art.  In the book, Godin defines art as “...the act of a human being doing generous work, creating something for the first time, touching another person.” That seems so nice and touchy-feely, doesn’t it? Well...not so much.  One of my favorite quotes in the book is “Art, though, requires both pride and disobedience.” What do I mean?

To me, art is anything I do that is

Authenitically,

Really,

Truly

aligned with what I believe. I believe teaching is my art.  The way I teach...or you teach...has to be aligned with what we believe about education, students, assessment, etc. for it to be of any value, though.  We can teach without it being art.  The act of teaching is not what I am talking about.  I’m talking about the ART of teaching.  THAT requires both pride and disobedience.   

I see so many educators on a daily basis who are artists but have put their paintbrushes away out of fear or just plain exhaustion of having their art criticized.  Please don’t.  Do your art.  Your students need your art...not your compliance.  If you believe that EVERY student can contribute to this world and deserves the opportunity to do so, then… do. your. art. It’s not easy.  Art is risky. Art requires you to be uncomfortable and often makes others uncomfortable as well.  Art sometimes takes sacred and revered things (or practices or philosophies or programs) and questions them, repositions them, shines new light on them, or breaks them.  That does not always make people happy, but it does make a difference.  

If we ever needed artists, it is now.