I am not teaching artists.
My students will not be one thing.
They will be many.
I am not here to create connoisseurship.
Those with eyes, will look
Those with ears, will listen.
Those with bodies, will move.
Those with minds, will think.
Look
Listen
Move
Think
Feel
Taste
Cry
Scream
Yell
Laugh
Build
Maybe not in that order.
But my students will do these things.
They will
Mix
Mingle
Confuse
Straddle
Question
Negate
Forgive
And oppose.
We will leave traces without waste.
Start revolutions without war
In our wake
Ideas will spread.
I am not teaching art.
Art is centered on self.
Closed in boxes
Put on shelves
When dusted off
They are only a shell of what they once were.
There is no time for art now.
A world in crisis needs makers
Not of stuff
But connections.
We need
Imagineers
Bioneers
Just plain ears.
intent
Students cry for context
Opportunity
Relevance
To be heard.
I will listen
I will push
I will question
I will not hold my tongue
I will not concede
I will not take less
Or be shunted to the back of the line.
And I will not let my students be told they are less.
Or “so creative”
Or “that’s nice.”
Or “that’s cool you can draw.”
We will use our talents as banners marching through the streets.
We will draw with our hands lines in the sand.
Cross and fight.
I will not be one thing.
I will be many.
I will not teach art
But I may teach through art.
Yet
I am science, too.
I am architecture.
I am engineering.
I am biology.
I am business.
I am literature.
I am here.
I am not one thing.
I am many.
I am not teaching artists.