The Art of Teaching.

I don’t really know how much I should write here anymore… I have been warned that this could get me into trouble… legally handcuffed. A sense of fear prevails at work… an apathy… the stench of defeat… people broken and no longer willing to speak out or up for what they believe and represent… do as we say or ship out… a succession of the brave now cowered and humiliated… or already gone…

Is there a new breed of leadership out there… fast tracked and trained to ignore its most notable asset?.. Dictatorships that solely promote government doctrine… statisticians of pointless data… the game being self-promotion… instant fix… instant success… in and out in a couple of years, but hey… great CV?

As a youth, I was anti-establishment. I had the Mohican haircut… wore the bondage trousers… rebelled against authority… But education… art in particular… altered my expressionism and matured an adult response… debate… thought through and researched response…

It took time… like all good learning takes.

It wasn’t instant… knee jerk… Time engendered new levels of understanding… thought and practice… I learnt from the doing, not the rote… success bandaged the mistakes and developed considered response…

So why am I falling backwards?

I’ve never come home from work before feeling royally shafted… but it’s a daily sensation. I’ve never considered looking for something else or questioning my motivation…

Art isn’t supposed to be like this…

Art has always been my freedom… my escape… my rescue… my inspiration… It has always eased my pain… repairs my spirit and feeds my curiosity…

I breath it like the cool fresh air on a winters morning, it brings me life and purpose… and yes… maybe I am naive to think that it makes others feel that way… that it is important… relevant… but I can’t think otherwise…

I was informed this week that English, Maths and Science are far more important… had time taken from Art to permit more time for these subjects… revision time…

I can’t blame the person who told me this… I understand their position… but a little later I was shown the new draft job description for my job that demands I support the ethos of the school… and insists that every pupil I teach makes at least three levels of progress during the time I teach them…

So all are equal?.. Everyone possesses the same capabilities… potential… aspirations?

I don’t mind this as an ambition. I think it right that I should be asked to bring out the best in every individual… but insistence?.. Contracted to?.. When clearly the results aren’t even valued or supported…

How can a person who has never taught my subject impose any relevance on the Art of Teaching? I challenge anybody who hasn’t ever stood in my shoes to do my job for just one day… and then tell me that it isn’t relevant… that other subjects should be given preference… that there is no value in it…

I’ve been trying to put this into context as an artist… education should reflect life. What role can artists contribute? Does it matter to them or does the “myth of the artist” prevail and have credence? Is this as it should be? Should we educators suffer as the artist simply because it is the “practice” that resonates between us?

I am more than this…

Bob Geldof on the Radio 5 Live last night… I paraphrase… “Maths gave me nothing… poetry and art gave me everything”. “I wouldn’t be who I am today without them”…

Is this an honest picture? Have I missed something? Is my bias prejudicing my response?

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It takes me time to consider and formalise the words that I place here. Seldom is this a spontaneous process for me… so I’m already pondering the wisdom of New Years resolutions… but I recognise that as sloth, sitting on my shoulder, insisting this isn’t necessary today… I know the benefits of exercise, and this is such.

I completed my New Years piece on the 1st… I’m happy with what was produced… self portrait of the freak… five years on from heart attack… I’m free to secure my daughters future a little better now – insurance companies won’t go near for five years after… wake up call… I am covered… was covered, but not securely enough… It’s the sort of thing that never happens to you… unheeded… until to late…

Wake up call. Thank you.

http://magis.to/f3h4DQIHRQkfDnIFAA

This coming Saturday I’ve been invited by one of my former tutors at BCU, to lead a workshop with Elena Thomas at the IKON gallery in Birmingham on “Collaboration”! This feels more like the artist at play… but leads me into unfamiliar ground.

Elena and myself collaborated over the past year on a venture entitled “One”, which some may have followed on our blog www.a-n.co.uk/p/2910921/
Our work culminated with a show at the end of last year in Ledbury, and for me it was a great learning experience… something I want more of… and… the show was well received by those who saw it – or so I like to believe!

We’ve met once already to discuss the session… Coventry, my first visit… stunning cathedral… stained glass and Sutherland tapestry. I like places of peace, but this was special… irony of history not lost on me. I loved the marriage of old with new… a perfect blend… the stillness of the forgotten, heated air still pungent in the original…

Plan formulated, I think we know what we’re doing… but it is that adult element that tickles my nerves… that daily teaching component… familiar yet alien… these won’t be no kids!

Peers in both professions… Intelligent and educated; that old fear that I’ll be out of place lurks beneath my skin… Not smart enough… not sharp enough to answer that unplanned for question… planned tasks not challenging enough.

I’ve taught adults before… formally… when I first started this present job… at the community centre next to our school. Adults come with high expectations… are there by choice… make demands… and worst of all have opinions; sometimes, set in stone opinions…

I’m going with my iPads… with new technology… possible new ideas, thinking and ways of producing… unfamiliar apps and process’… even in this way of working I steer clear of more recognisable ways to make… Brushes, ArtRage, and such like, aren’t really for me.

I stopped teaching adults because the majority wanted traditional… watercolours etc. My contemporary approach wasn’t appreciated…

Not that there is anything wrong with traditional… I embrace all forms of practice, but the “New” often holds unfounded fears… yet for me, that’s where the excitement of possibilities lies…

I’m not going as a teacher… realisation dawns! Thank you. I’m going as an artist; a collaborator; as myself! The one thing the partnership with Elena did give me was the knowledge that people liked and responded to my work… or put another way… the confidence that I could stand as an equal amongst my peers.

It should be an interesting weekend…