The art of teaching is the art of making

I have been teaching The Turning Intensive at Center for Furniture Craftsmanship (CFC) for 10+ years. This is one of my favorite teaching gigs for so many reasons. I have two months to work with ten individuals to teach them skills and help them search for their personal voice, and inspire them to form a community to help and support each other for years to come. What do I get from it? Community, friendships and a ton of inspiration. 

The act of teaching is the act of creating. You receive the raw materials (in the form of students) and spend each day problem-solving how to get the most out of each interaction to advance their learning. Even though the same skill material is covered each year, the emphasis is different depending on the group.  

As an artist I work alone in my studio. I see the same things around me and use the same techniques I have been using for 40 years. When I put these techniques in the hands of beginners I am always blown away by how they see it in such a different way than I have been seeing it. It expands my thinking. 

Being away from my familiar tools and space and working in a space with possibly less equipment than I have in my shop, helps me come at projects from a new direction. I have developed some of my favorite ideas while away from my own studio. Having a group that is bouncing ideas off each other is magical. It is fun to see one person in a room push their creative envelope and see how what they come up with helps others push their creative boundaries. This is the value of working around other people. My class is a collaboration. 

Working intensively for two months allows people to progress rapidly. Many of my students get their work from the class published. This makes me proud as an artist /teacher. They came into my class, raw clay. They learned skills, took risks working outside their comfort zone, and came up with intriguing unique objects.

This was published in the Studio newsletter. You can read more here.