another year, another art show (my 8th show! i teach K-8 art full time, i put on a huge student show each year :), originally uploaded by sproutgirl74 / jenifer lake.
i love my job & feel insanely lucky sometimes to be able to do something that i really do love (& never thought i'd be doing). yes, sometimes they drive me to distraction, but ultimately, being able to share my excitement, love, & passion for the visual arts is super rewarding. i teach K-8, so i see them all from 5 years old, like this favorite kiddo of mine, to 14 years old -- & i've taught long enough now to see a full revolution of kids go through. i love that i am friends with several students who are now in high school and college. i love that when they leave me they will know about contemporary modern artists.
what really makes my heart beat faster? having the older ones talk to me about what they've seen, how it makes them feel, how they want to make their own & continue to make art & look at art when they move on to high school. how they have seen & recognized work & artists when they've been out & about or at museums - this is one of my penulitmate moments, when i know they get it, when i know they see that i'm trying to teach them & show them an exciting world around them -- that they can participate in it & be involved in. both as spectator & as do-er.
i could wax for a long time about this subject. suffice to say, i am a blessed person to be able to do what i do.
there are lots more photos on my flickr stream if you'd like to go take a peek at my latest huge art show i put on :)
5 comments:
Very cool that you get to teach kids to do something you love to do. I wish I could teach art someday. Hopefully more schools add video/audio production to their curriculum.
I'm Andy, by the way. I'm also part of the 30 Favorite Things project. My blog is at http://the30greatest.wordpress.com/
wow. I just looked through your stream and I'm so excited that there are teachers out there like you giving students such a wonderful and fresh take on Art...who also absolutely LOVE what they do! Which is so key to good teaching I think.
You have also given me much inspiration for projects to do with my own little budding artist so thank you.
Also, your style:adorable and you and Stephanie could totally be sisters the resemblance is a bit uncanny from your photos.
they are SO lucky to have you !!
Amen, amen, and amen!
If I had an extra $97,000, I'd recruit you away from SF to come teach my kids...that's the going rate for art teachers these days, isn't it?
Great ideas! Kids love to do art, they are very creative and they express their thoughts and feelings in a very genuine way. It's also nice to encourage kids to do some of the art activity to enhance their talents.
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