“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
—Nelson Mandela

Education is about sharing skills and information so that students, whoever they may be, may
take their combined knowledge into future situations, able to face any circumstance and find
solutions to any problem. The greatest educator is the problem itself, but more specifically a
problem whose solution requires the creation of something new. What better position to be in
than as an art teacher to guide students through these problems.

I recently began my teaching career, but in my second year, I have already learned possibly
twice as much as I have taught. The role of an educator requires us to be constantly prepared
and up-to-date in our field for the sake of our students. The secret is how much of this we learn
from the students themselves. The relationship of a student and teacher is that of traded
knowledge in the classroom. As we teach, we also learn.

This is what it is to be an artist as well. The Artist is two things. She is open to the influence of
the world while also understanding of the influence she has in return. She must learn and then
teach and then learn again. The Artist observes and absorbs before crafting a work of art that
teaches the world a new way of understanding itself. The Artist is the conductor of change.
Many students take art in order to fill an elective credit. But a select few at Selwyn have chosen
to join the Fine Arts Academy, taking a deeper dive into their artistic study. Whether in the
general elective courses or in the academy, students who wish to become professional artists or
designers, find art class to be a no-brainer. It is my belief, however, that students looking to
pursue careers outside of the arts will benefit just as much, if not more.

What the study of fine arts provides is practice in artistic behavior. Shea Mallett and I have had
discussions about the TAB pedagogy which she uses in her classroom with younger students.
She describes this as providing students with choice-based problem solving, which I have found
directly relates to the creative problem solving I try to teach to students who choose to take
visual arts courses in high school. What we both teach is the ability to see all possible courses
of action, rather than only the most obvious one, whether this be within the context of a project
or during more explorative art-making time.

It is important for students of any age to understand that though we teach them skills that we
are experts in, our ways are not the only way of accomplishing the goal. Bob Ross had a
completely different method to blending colors than Berthe Morisot. Does this make one less of
an expert than the other? Can this idea expand to other fields?

The ability to conceptualize what the future will hold, critique the present, or renew the past all
lie in the hands of the young artist. My job, or rather our jobs as teachers and parents, must
then be to provide the skills and background for these young people to make the most informed
and creative decisions. We must encourage them to find solutions that make more sense for
them so that their work is representative of the world they see, rather than the world we see. I
believe this is what separates education and indoctrination.

This is not a new idea here at Selwyn. In my first year teaching I had the opportunity to watch
teachers create lessons which risked the outcome for the sake of students finding creative
methodologies of their own. Little did I know the community of artists I would be entering when I
first started. Each student is not only provided with lessons in artistic behavior in required or
elective art classes, but in their core classes as well. It is my hope that this common practice will
result in adults who observe the world with an artist’s mind, seeing the potential for beauty and
assurance in their skills to create something better.

It is so exciting to see the students who I have had since I started beginning to say things like,
“I am going to try it this way instead.” This shows a growth in students’ confidence in their
self-sufficiency. I believe it is this skill that will make our students strong competitors in the
working world as well as more confident human beings. We must encourage creativity in our
students. There is nothing like watching a child with an artistic mindset being diminished
because he dared to show the world what he sees. To be discouraged in one’s right to create is
a sure way to discourage the ability to facilitate change. To be joyful and confident in their ability
to make something beautiful or of value will expand the breadth of the student’s potential.
I feel incredibly encouraged by what I have been able to share with my students, but I am much
more grateful for how they have taught me to be a better teacher and artist as well. The
dialogue we are able to have was not something I had available to me in high school, so I am
glad we give our students this ability here at Selwyn. I look forward to continuing to perfect the
way I teach artistic behavior and creative problem solving with my future students.
Artists are the change makers. Here at Selwyn, we encourage the artists.