Art is as much about seeing as it is about expression.To grow as an artist is to mature and deepen your experience. If there is a visual language and film uses it, then the artist must build a vocabulary with which ideas, feelings, emotions, and thoughts can be expressed.When I began working with the man who would become my mentor, he said to me, “Don’t ask any questions. I won’t answer them. If you can’t see it, I can’t explain it to you.” As I remember, he didn’t hold to this strictly, but it was enough to impress me that I needed to learn to see. I needed to work and take responsibility for my learning of the craft.
We all know that art is not truth.
Art is the lie that makes us realize the truth Pablo Picasso
Growing and maturing as an artist is not learning a set of facts or technical data. It is not learning to manipulate cameras and fixtures. Technical excellence is necessary, but it is the means to a greater end. Without technical excellence you will lose your audience.
If you don’t have the vocabulary to communicate, you will only experience frustration. Your audience will misunderstand you.
My teaching Philosophy
Coaching soccer has informed my teaching. Soccer is a blend of technical skills and creativity. It doesn’t take a lot of time to teach the basic skills but to learn the thinking and more importantly seeing the field and anticipating the flow of the game takes a lot longer. You do not have to tell a player that they have made a mistake; they know it. And if you just tell them what they did wrong, it will frustrate them because they have no control over the past. But if you help them see what they can do next time to get better results you empower them.The same is true when working with artists. Creativity cannot exist without risk and risk will not thrive without trust. Trust, I believe, exists only in relationship.
Technology and the internet has changed the flow of information in very profound ways. Education has never been just a question of information, but in the past the Professor was the primary gatekeeper. Now with the availablity of information our role has shifted to mentor and guide. Camille Pagila in an article titled "The Magic of Images" argues that professors give context. We help develop a structure thru which information can be filtered and integrated. Another challenge is the wide gap between students in regard to the technical expertise that they are bringing to us. My goal is to develop, help mature, a knowledgeable technically excellent artist. I have found that I can best accomplish this through conversation, asking questions that leads the student to discover for themselves.