To Avoid Teaching Art is to Avoid Repaying the Debt
Friday October 31, 2008
Artist and art teacher Jon Rader Jarvis has expressed his thoughts about value of teaching, and the debt you owe for having been taught, on the Painting Forum. I'm reprinting it here because I think people all too readily devalue the art of someone who also teaches, as if it somehow taints or cheapens their art. JRJ says:
Every artist who was well "taught" by one artist/instructor or many, takes on a debt that must be repaid by paying it forward. Those who benefit from your instruction incur the same debt with the same imperative to pay it forward.Add your thoughts to the forum discussion here...
I once saw an intelligent description of a "professional" as compared to a tradesman. A professional shares knowledge freely without trade secrets knowing that his unique abilities are a part of his nature and not accumulated knowledge that must be held in secret to protect his worth.
I have tried to follow that philosophy sharing all knowledge with my students to repay a tiny bit of what my teachers shared with me I have benefited from the process and my art work is considerably more "honest" as a result. We keep only what we share and the waves we make will benefit generations yet unimagined.
I make art as a visual communication language with artists I will never know. It is a way to touch the future and achieve a kind of immortality not open to any other communication form. To avoid teaching is to avoid repaying the debt, and we are made less by that avoidance.
Comments
If it wasn’t for people sharing their knowledge I for one would be lost. I like the description of the tradesman and the professional; I continue to meet people who do not share their tips and time with others who want to learn.
Aye, some people don’t like to share their tips but are all too eager to glean freely from others.
I am still a student, figuring my way through all of the different mediums that are available to me to learn. I am so appreciative of my teachers, they have encouraged me and challenged me. I have to disagree with JRJ a little in that I have to keep some things to myself since I am not ready to teach. I’m just not there yet. It’s like being pressured to exhibit when you don’t have enough work to be comfortable to do so.
Another thought, possibly Marion can add her expertise as I sometimes don’t know how to express in words what I can with paint. I was looking at one of my saved Art&Auction issues from May, 2004 when Picasso’s “Boy with a Pipe” surpassed the $100m mark at auction. There is an article on Anish Kapoor who says, “I don’t, with my art, have anything to say. To me, agendas get in the way.” How is it possible to teach that, I’m not sure. An artist has to use voids, color and space, textures to create a feeling or atmosphere. Some people are just gifted with that, and I find it refreshing to not have to figure something out and just enjoy the piece the way I would like to.