School

this is what I experienced in school when we did art class. Here is a project now do it now lets see how yours stacks up to mine and everyone elses work. You can draw or you cannot draw, Oh you are an artist and you are not.,
Grade one.
you are 6 years old and your artistic expression is decided for you..
This is against everything that is creative in life.
You do art to enhance that part of your life and the big question is how does one do that.
When I was 6 the rage inside me had begun. By some fortunate stroke my first grade teacher thought I was a good artist and that was that. Who knows why she said that when I knew nothing.
But what she did not tell me was what to do with all this energy that I had to be creative. Without an outlet a creative personality will go crazy. Literally.
Sometimes the crazy looks like anger, sometimes it looks like temper tantrums. sometimes it looks like a bad child.
In my art class I will attempt to teach the children how to channel that energy in a positive way. Make the rage into a raging river on a canvas. Make the tantrum turn into a mural. You have to spend that creative energy or it will spend you.
Believe me I wish someone had shown me at a very young age what to do with the storm of energy in me.
I also have seen the result of a quiet child being quiet because he was thinking. You can think things out better through art.
Art can be your lifeline .
All I know is a lot of years of working as an artist.
I could have done so much more if I started earlier.