A True Teacher Never Gives Up on the Student

There have been times when I was teaching students art and they want to give up on a piece.  They see it did not turn out as they planned, or it was too hard to do, so they thought, but in art I shine.  There is an idea for every mistake that is made to turn the mistake into a masterpiece.

How do I do this? I have good critical thinking skills for fixing a physical problem.

The best example I can give is one I experienced five minutes ago.  The water cooler in our home needed to be changed.  There is a plastic tab on the top, I could not pull it off.  So I immediately went to the tool drawer and pulled out pliers grabbed the tab and easily pulled the tab off, flipped the container and voila. But I learned what pliers could do over years of using then occasionally.

In art when I made a mistake when I was young it was me and the paper.  I had no tools of knowledge or experience to repair any of the mistakes.  I would erase and erase and start over until one day I realized it was a waste of time.  I had a brother that was great at proportions of the human body.  I had created a Madonna and child on paper with chalk pastels, it was perfect to me except for the hands.  As I was beginning to become upset because the deadline to submit this to the country fair was closing in, my brother offered to sketch the hands.  He did, now it was perfect. I watched and learned.  I won first prize in my age group at the fair that year.

Someone who had the ability that at that moment I did not have offered to help me.  Now it does not matter that he had the ability naturally or that he learned it from someone else, what mattered is he had the confidence and care to help.

In art after many years of creating art and making many mistakes I have found tools to do things I could not.  When teaching art to students that are frustrated, I ask if I may touch their piece or offer a solution. If they say, "Yes." I guide them to fix the mistake by on their own first, if they cannot I will show them how a certain tool or different method will do the trick.  It takes patience, it takes care, it takes time.

In art I will not give up on a student, I know I can teach art to anyone.  I know I can teach a student to have confidence in their own ability to create art and repair mistakes.  My daughter has a friend that is a master artist.  I was stuck on a piece and showed it to her, she suggested something I had not thought of, turn the piece into a mixed media piece instead of staying with the original intent of chalk on paper.  Sometimes we get so stuck on one way, we can't see the forest for the trees.

Stubborn personalities are like this, I know, I am stubborn but I am loosening up in my old age.
I can be taught but first I have to know someone truly cares for me and my well-being. Once the trust is established then I open my narrow vision.  Trust in myself has developed to the point I don't worry about much outside my scope of knowledge anymore, I know me, I trust me, I know "all will be well' and if something goes wrong, I can fix it, I can land on my feet.

If I can do this, anyone can, I'm not special, just human. Thankful.