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Artists as Teachers

I know we have art teachers and thank god for them! They teach skill and the different art techniques along with the study of art and origins of styles all citing the great artists.

There are art teachers and then there are artists. The artists as teachers I believe teach through action.

“You want to learn something new?” says the artist.

We excitedly reply “yes! teach me please!”

“Follow me, watch me” is their answer.

Ok, I made all that dialogue up but you get the point. The artists teach by doing. Don’t do as they say, do as they do. How do you get better at painting? By painting. How can you paint like Leonardo? By painting like Leonardo… study his art and the books written on it and try to recreate. We are aiming high so we can land at our highest level when we fail.

You may learn to fly after falling from reaching for the sky…

Artists… continue doing you. If we want to learn… we will watch you and try to imitate you then partways and create our own path.

I asked my friend Jeff once if he could show me a bit about photography and he said he would… to join him on his next photoshoot. I watched the whole time and learned how to operate my camera, no textbook needed.

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