What Teaching Has Taught Me
As a podcaster, I have talked to hundreds of creatives who do amazing work and make it look easy. One of the big takeaways from those conversations has been my high regard for people who can walk you through their process. Making great art is one thing, but communicating how you made it is something else entirely.
Today’s guests not only make art but teach others how to create their own. Artists Julie Bell and George Pratt open up about the job of teaching, why treating art like it’s mysterious is no good, and how we all battle the Insecurity Monster when it comes to our work.
This was great! Hearing Julie relate the story about the student took me back to when I was an art student in my early twenties. Just the feeling of insecurity and moreover, the feeling of worthlessness compared to other established artists and even other students who were better than me was tremendous. And unfortunately, while the teachers were nice (for the most part) where I went to school, they were hardly equipped to help myself or other novices to deal with those feelings and learn what was needed to empower ourselves to forge ahead. I also agree with George about the power of seeing mistakes occur and demystifying the process. It took me years and years (and even now) to realize that great art is not luck nor random. It’s the constant culmination of practice and mistakes to find your own process. Thanks for this, Swain!