Welcome to ELAN’s Blog Salon! All week we’ll be featuring articles from ELAN members around the theme of “My Life in Art”. Members will talk about their lives as artists, arts administrators and arts supporters.
Let’s start the week off with a great reflection by Michele Sinclair on her journey from artist to art teacher.
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It took me too long to realize that my paintbrush defines the distance between struggle and success in my life. Art is, and has always been, the medium through which I find ownership, overcome difficulty and entertain curiosity. While I am first a visual artist, I am also an art teacher, often more interested in how the art around me is created than what I create myself.
To me, art is not defined in the traditional parameters of beauty. Art was spending long summer days digging up my childhood backyard to find hidden treasures and then curating them atop my bedroom shelf. Art is the moments I share with homeless animals and their families at Sunday Pro-Bone-O clinics. Art is the shape and texture of the strange and lovely seeds I found in the Amazon rainforest on a trip to Ecuador. Art is encountering my world as it unravels.
Art, however it is defined, is something I feel can help every individual better understand themselves and their worlds.
My passion for youth arts education was solidified through the art integration, after-school and summer sessions I taught through the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Time and again I would witness a group of young people, at first strangers to each other, be working in seamless teamwork to construct indescribably powerful class projects only a few days later. With only bits of direction from me, art allowed my students to utilize the talents of each individual at a maturity level far beyond their years.
I moved on to intern at the Oregon Supported Living Program’s Arts & Culture department, where I learned about the importance of intent in art making, that is, taking the time to listen to what your mind and body feel you need to create, and having the courage to follow through. It was also made clear to me that at any age, surrounding oneself with a community of makers helps one cultivate the courage to create with utmost personal integrity.
Now, working in the education department at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, I’m learning about the importance of celebrating small achievements as if they are large milestones, rewarding curiosity and creating sensory-filled opportunities for young people to explore new worlds.
I’ve had the pleasure of teaching many compassionate, motivated, proactive young people in Lane County and I look forward to a lifetime devoted to art education. I believe that when youth are rewarded for taking risks, given the space and resources to experiment with new materials and the opportunities to teach others about they are learning along the way, they will never fail to surprise those around them with their incredible ingenuity.
