The importance of art education (part 1)

I was recently asked to write about why art education. This post originally appeared on the blog called "Keep Forever Box."  Here's what I came up with: 

“Well with all the cuts in education, you must understand why the art teacher has to give up her room for a regular classroom teacher. It’s just common sense, right? Some things are more important than others”

A family member spoke these words to me years ago. He meant well, but it shocked me. You see, I am an artist, a perpetual art student and an art teacher in the public schools of North Carolina. In the few years that I’ve been teaching, my position has been cut or threatened many times, regardless of how great I am at my job. I have worked in a trailer with no sink where I carried in my own water for students to wash their hands. That’s hard when you have hundreds of students a week. I have pulled together amazing projects with a budget of less than 15 cents per student. I fundraise on nights and weekends so I can purchase good supplies for my students. I have also been repeatedly belittled through administrators' decisions about the value of my subject and I have lost weeks of precious planning time so that I could administer reading fluency tests that provided little to no meaningful data, even to the reading teachers. Appreciation is not a major part of this job. Sometimes my own family fails to understand the value of the services I provide.

Here’s why I still do it.

Art is not a sideline subject. Every single day, I hear parents, teachers, and administrators talk about the 21stcentury skills that they want our children to have. We want a workforce full of people who can think for themselves, troubleshoot, collaborate, problem solve, and clearly communicate their ideas. We want them to be persistent and overcome mistakes. We want them to be flexible and successful members of our society within an ever-changing working environment. We also want them to be tolerant of others beliefs and values, especially when they differ from our own. We want Steve Jobs reincarnate, only better, kinder and more socially adjusted. With today’s strict assessment techniques and test-taking government mandates, I firmly believe art class is perhaps the only subject that can still get us there. Here’s why.

A Day in Art Class

Every day in art class, I give my students a problem to solve. I propose an idea, or a challenge, and students typically work together in small groups to create a solution. Their process involves critical thinking (how do we do this?), collaboration (working with a group at their table), creativity (non-linear and often clever thought processes to come up with a solution with limited supplies) and communication (both while working in their team and to present results or communicate an idea to others through an end product).

In terms of Bloom’s Taxonomy, a common educational reference about higher order thinking, creating is right there at the top of cognitive ability. Memorizing facts for multiple choice tests… well, that’s the lowest level of learning and typically is meaningless in the long run. In terms of real life, art class teaches skills that apply directly to success in any job.

There’s a quote from Pinterest I love that says, “Art has the role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else. ” I don’t know who said it, but it rings true every time. There are many different kinds of learning abilities and different styles of leadership, but in art class, each and every student can find an opportunity to shine… to build self-esteem, confidence and to be proud of their accomplishments. Art class isn’t just about allowing students to express themselves. Art class is about modeling and practicing skills that will help children throughout their lives. These skills of collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity will help them build stronger marriages and raise happier children. It will help them secure their dreams in the work force and it will help them survive, overcome and thrive as they face difficult times or decisions.

We didn’t get to the moon with reading, writing, arithmetic, and multiple-choice tests alone. American ingenuity, creativity, persistence, and problem solving got us there. These are the exact skills that children practice in my art class every day.

Summer hike in Yosemite

Summer Hike, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

This one was inspired by a photo I took this summer while Dave and I were hiking in Yosemite. We were on the way to see the most magnificent waterfalls I've ever seen before.  Thanks to a few snow days last week, I was able to finish it up.

My mother told me not to be a teacher...

Jasmine at homecoming

Here we are together, two weeks before she passed away

Dear North Carolina,

My mother told me not to be a teacher. When I was an infant, she realized that her teacher’s salary would not allow her to take me to the beach to see the ocean.  As I grew, she told me to choose a job that would pay me well. She said that all people work hard, but that some people get paid way more than others.  Like they say in our great state, “She was right as rain.”  

I saw everything differently though.  I saw the countless children that my mother loved and the joy it brought to recall their antics and their successes.  I saw her summers off without realizing how many unpaid hours she was putting in to do her job so well. She was and is excellent at her job and her students are lucky to have her.  Still, I tried not to become a teacher. 

In college, I steered clear of education, but the highlight of my week was picking up my little buddy, Jasmine, a girl labeled at-risk for dropout by her teachers. Defiant, rude, loud and as sassy as they come, Jasmine made life difficult for her teachers.  She was kicked out of her high school for delinquent behavior. In their eyes, she was lashing out and out of control. 

I saw a different side of Jasmine though. When she got in my car she always changed the station to rap and cranked up the volume as loud as it could go.  It must have been hilarious to see a waspy girl like me riding around with my sassy Jazzy and 102 JAMZ turned way up loud. When we weren’t talking about her crush on Lil Wayne or Usher, I helped Jasmine earn A’s by teaching her how to study for tests. We turned it into a game, and then she aced everything. For all of her brash exterior, Jasmine was a gentle soul on the inside. She loved babysitting her cousins and she was as tender with them as any mother would be. She wanted to earn her cosmetology license and she talked about going to college like me.  I saw her struggle with her weight and worry about finding something that would fit for her homecoming dance. My heart broke along with hers several times through the years.  I loved her and she became a friend instead of just a mentee. I will never forget the day her mother called me to tell me that she passed away. She was about to turn 16.

I couldn’t save Jasmine.  In fact, I believe she was the one who saved me from a dishonest life with myself—I was meant to be a teacher all along. She showed me that much and more.  Five years later, I am a teacher.  I just earned my master’s degree while working full time in the public schools and I am graced by the presence of students like Jasmine all the time.   

In the few years that I have worked in this profession, I have lived so much. I taught a child who watched one parent murder the other one. I saw that student heal, grow and flourish again in the classrooms at my previous school. I taught children who had such low self esteem that they couldn’t see their worth until teachers broke through layer by layer to show it to them. I have watched, heartbroken as a kind cafeteria worker loaded up a child’s backpack with leftover boxes of raisins at the end of the year so that he would have something to eat over the summer.  I had no idea. I feel the sting of tears well up in my eyes even now as I remember this. They are tears of hurt, knowing that I have glimpsed the abyss of need in our communities but they are also tears of hope because I know that I have found my purpose.  I still have so much to give.  My mother told me not to be a teacher.

Parents, I am on your team. I love your daughters and your sons.  I take great joy in crafting the best lessons-- lessons so good that your children won’t even realize how much they’re learning because of all the fun they have in the process.  Once I teach a student, I always consider him or her one of my children too. Teaching is not a simple act of imparting knowledge. Teaching is a lifelong mentoring relationship—it is a calling—it is love.

It hurts me deeply to know that North Carolina has gutted the public education system in favor of vouchers and charter schools that can pick and choose their student clientele.  It hurts me to know that the legislature and governor have stripped North Carolina of the teaching fellows program to recruit and cultivate new talent for our children. I ache in knowing that they also cut master’s pay for deserving teachers who have given everything they have for a tiny increase in salary. Let us be clear. Master’s pay is a simple $3,000 jump from the base salary of a North Carolina teacher. To teachers who make 30,000 a year, losing this is a punch in the gut.  This is $3,000 less that they will have each year to afford a safe car, healthy food for their families, or the rising costs of college tuition for their own children.  And for what savings does this come? Is it for businesses to have a tax break?  Teachers are educating the future work force. The least we can do is make sure that they don’t have to live on government assistance while they do their difficult jobs.

Legislators will tell you that these changes are for the good of the state, but they are shortsighted.  Without quality teachers our public school children—the poorest ones, the ones who need it the most—will fall even more behind.  They will blame it on the teachers, because we are easy targets.   We tend to keep our heads down and do what we love—teach.  We don’t want to be involved in politics—we don’t want to make waves--we just want to be able to live on a modest but fair salary.  We want to work in schools that don’t have to choose between ordering toilet paper or copy paper.  Is this too much to ask? My mother told me not to be a teacher.

I hear some of my friends and family ask, “What’s wrong with these lazy teachers? Why can’t they get those test scores up?” I can’t begin to explain the hurt and anger that those statements incite. With rising class sizes year after year, little to no budget for supplies and rapidly falling pay, these statements are demoralizing. Students can’t ace tests when they’re hungry for nourishment, itchy from head lice or when they haven’t had any sleep because they are homeless and scared at night. Even when schools do succeed at raising test scores, as my mother’s school has, the teachers have yet to see the meager bonus promised alongside that success. The only reward that teachers receive is the intrinsic satisfaction of doing their jobs well and with great love.

I am one of the lucky ones. I am lucky enough to work in Guilford County now, where teacher pay is slightly higher than most in the state. In addition, my husband is not a teacher and so I am able to continue on this career path of doing what I love because we can afford it.

Dear North Carolina, land that I love, please hear me when I say, it should not be a luxury to choose teaching as a career. 

My mother told me not to be a teacher.  When I finally have a child of my own, please don’t make me tell him or her not to be a teacher too.

Sincerely,

Katie Wall Podracky

N.C. Public school teacher, Greensboro

How do you do that?

People are often surprised at what my paintings look like to begin with.  I usually start out with a really loud color like orange or pink.  While this looks crazy at first, this technique will give the painting a warm glow when I'm finished adding all the layers.  Here's an example of my latest commission work for Richard and Mason.  (Thank you Richard!)  This is a picture of the marsh scene at a river house.

First, I started with a translucent layer of vibrant orange. I also used some brushwork to draw into the orange.  To do this, I simply put some mineral spirits on a brush or a rag and then wiped away the orange to lighten it.

Next I added in the clouds. I love the clouds! I intentionally left some of the underpainting so that it would peek through the clouds and sky to give it a warm glow. When adding the clouds, I worked from dark to light. Here, the darks aren't that dark, so I just used sky blue to darken the contour lines.

Then I brought in the darks for the distant tree line across the water.  I made sure that I still left some of the original bright orange color peeking through at the skyline.

The water and dock came next.

Finally I added the green and yellow marshy grasses on top. All of these colors (except for the orange) are mixed on my palette so that the painting doesn't look "straight from the tube." The tube colors are a starting point that the artist needs to refine and re-state. I also went back and forth into the clouds and sky to sharpen or blur lines as I went.

Ta-da! That's how I paint after many years of careful observation and lost of practice. The colors in the last piece look much brighter because I took the picture outside in natural light instead of the dim light of my studio.  Mason and Richard, I hope you love this as much as I do! Thank you so much for your commission!

Happy Easter

Some folks don't appreciate the culinary genius of peeps, but for those of you raised on high-fructose corn syrup (like me), here goes!  First, make homemade marshmallows.  Let the "batter" sit over night and then use bunny and chick cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes.  Finally, dust with sanding sugar and add melted chocolate dot eyes with a toothpick.  I also made no-bake nests using this recipe and added Easter candies for fun baskets.  Having time to be creative is one little thing I am grateful for this Easter morning.

Making Valentines

One of my favorite things to do in February is make valentines.  All the reds, pinks, little hearts and flourishes make me happy.  This year I took an entire Saturday (that I should have spent studying or grading!)  and I carved two lino cut blocks with one of my favorite quotes and another funny idea that I found on Pinterest. I was inspired by my students' lino cuts in art class and by my friend, Woodie Anderson, and her beautiful printmaking. Here are the results of my own attempt.  May the recipients get a good kick out of these and know that I love them.

This one is a quote from Kahlil Gibran: "Beauty is not in the face. Beauty is a light in the heart."   I had to work out some kinks with this one because you have to carve all the words backwards so they will print correctly.

This one is for all my nerd friends:  You're the Obi-Wan for me!

Happy Valentine's Day from me and Lilly-cat too.  

Back in the Saddle!

This weekend has been fabulous!  Friday ended up as a snow-day which prevented me from taking my comps at UNC-P over the MLK Jr. break.  Thank goodness!  Instead of studying I was able to paint.  It's been forever, but once I got into it, everything came flooding back.  This is the beginning of my work based on our trip to France in August.  Here is Monet's Japanese bridge and gardens at Giverny, Katie style!  It's not finished yet, but it's coming right along.

 The under painting

 Adding mid-tones and darks.

Adding lights. Almost there, but is it finished yet?