Vince Pitelka on mon 8 apr 96
To Steve Branfman and anyone else who teaches high-school art:
My situation may be different from many university teachers, and it took a
great deal of determination and time (and several other careers - I didn't
start teaching until I was 37) before I was ready to become a teacher. It had
to do with a lot of personal confusions and convictions that made it difficult
for me.
However, on a national average, I'd say that high-school art teachers get the
medal for courage in teaching. At the college level at least there is the
EXPECTATION that our students will behave like autonomous adults. Good
high-school art teachers are my heroes. My son, who is currently in a doctoral
program in Japanese Medieval History at Princeton, was powerfully influenced by
Jim Logan, ceramics teacher at Amherst High School in Amherst, MA. (Steve, do
you know him? He does sawdust-powered raku firing with his students.) He
has an MFA in ceramics from U-Mass. He is a kind and compassionate man and an
inspiring teacher, and over the years he has had a powerful positive impact on
thousands of high-school students. My God. What a gift to the world.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - wkp0067@tntech.edu
Appalachian Center for Crafts - Tennessee Technological University
Smithville, TN
Numo Jaeger on mon 8 apr 96
Dear Vince,
Thanks for the wonderful comments about high school teachers. It was like a
pep talk! This is my first year teaching high school art. I have taught K
thru 8 art for 10 years and adult ceramic classes for about 15 years...but
these high school students...well, they are special bunch. They capture your
heart with their enthusiasm,beauty,simplicity and stubborness. It has been
quite a year for me.
Are college age students like that also?
Numo Jaeger
jaegmil@ccnet.com
C.T. Wagoner on wed 10 apr 96
I sure do appreciate reading your post about High School Art teachers!
Thanks!
cwag
10 years at Jr./Sr. High Art teaching. They wanna learn....they just don't
always know it.
C.T. Wagoner
ct_wag@ix.netcom.com
Billie Creek Pottery
Claudia Louise Palermo on wed 10 apr 96
I am a high school teacher in Westchester County in New York. In
addition to teaching Ceramics, I also teach foundation Studio Art and
Photography. I must say, in reply to your comments, there is something
quite refreshing about teaching a teenager. It gives you, if you are
interested in trying to deal with the battles, of teaching them an
opportunity to "See" the world around them. Even though the ninth
graders often take art because they have to, by the time they are
seniors, they appreciate what they did in class, even if they feel they
have no talent. It also gives a person the opportunity to draw out in
students strengths and talents they didn't know they had. Another avenue
to pursue when math or science are too difficult.
I find teaching art refreshing and authentic - there is something
very rewarding about immediate success with children, something that
testing doesn't bring out in students.
If you are interested in sharing ideas or points of view, my email
address is:
Claudia Palermo
clp19@Columbia.edu
I would be interested in a dialogue.
Hluch - Kevin A. on thu 11 apr 96
Clayarters,
Talent! How many people out there believe in "talent". I've often
wondered about this in regard to artistic expression. For example, why
would there be any need for teachers (especially at Art Institutes) if
talent were the only prerequisite for expression? People who are
talented often succeed in spite of teachers and those of the so-called
untalented sometimes seem unaffected by their teachers.
What happened historically when potters were born into the trade
generation after generation? ... Whose to say what "talents" are
buried, hidden, or unrevealed for various reasons?
And for that matter...Isn't it a blessing that the piano was invented for
those who are prodigies at age six? Was the inventor of the piano
"talented" as well?
Kevin
On Wed, 10 Apr 1996,
Claudia Louise Palermo wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> seniors, they appreciate what they did in class, even if they feel they
> have no talent. It also gives a person the opportunity to draw out in
>
Carl D. Cravens on fri 12 apr 96
>Talent! How many people out there believe in "talent". I've often
>wondered about this in regard to artistic expression. For example, why
I believe in talent. I have a knack for computer intuition... it comes
easy for me. I don't have a talent for clay... but that doesn't mean I
can't learn it. Being talented in an area of interest just makes it
easier to learn. Being untalented in an area makes it harder to learn,
but certainly doesn't mean that one can't.
Teachers can help the untalented excell and stunt the growth of the
talented... it all depends on the teacher. (My college has its share of
poor professors that can't teach their way out of a wet paper bag.)
>What happened historically when potters were born into the trade
>generation after generation? ... Whose to say what "talents" are
>buried, hidden, or unrevealed for various reasons?
If you were born into the trade, dad *made* you learn it whether you
were talented or not... I don't think there's anything heriditary about
it. If you'd been forced to learn pottery, day in, day out, since you
were in grade school, you'd probably be an excellent production potter
regardless of your initial talent for the trade.
>And for that matter...Isn't it a blessing that the piano was invented for
>those who are prodigies at age six? Was the inventor of the piano
>"talented" as well?
The inventor of the piano (Bartolommeo Cristofori) was scorned by his
contemporaries because his instrument was a "silly" extension of the
keyboard instruments of the time, etc. The most powerful addition was
the hush pedal... and that was the most scorned of his ideas. Was he
talented? Dunno... he made keyboard instruments for a living and
experimented with modifying and improving them. The piano was born of
experimentation... how much of that was inspired and how much was brute
trial and error to see what worked, who knows. (Trivia from a lover of
piano, and David Lanz' music, especially "Cristofori's Dream.")
I don't think he was a talented artist. I think he was a well-trained
builder of instruments, as was probably his father. In the end, I don't
think talent is all that important... the important part is dedication,
sincerity, and practice.
--
Carl (ravenpub@southwind.net)
* Error reading user's mind (A)bort, (R)etry, (I)ntuit
Claudia Louise Palermo on fri 12 apr 96
Kevin - in regard to the term "Talent" I firmly believe there are
people out there with Natural Ability , and that these people on ly need
to be encouraged to develop that ability. There are those of us out
there who have some ability and those with none. Even way back when ,
when potters had to make pots to survive, some people made better pots
than others with the same training. So is Natural ability perhaps a
better word than talent even though they very often mean the same thing?
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