Hi
I have been thinking a lot lately about teaching drawing, and my role
as a teacher. I'm also a golf professional and have been teaching golf
for 40 years.
Teaching golf and teaching drawing, I realized for me, are very much
the same process. I believe they are both spiritual practices. I am
always trying to
communicate to that inner golfer/artist, and the language I use is the
same, it's the language of spirit. When teaching I find myself
sounding more like a priest than a teacher, using words like trust,
passion, inspiration and faith a lot. I'm not a religious person, but
I am a spiritual one. Teaching for me is a spiritual practice/process.
I believe to be a good teacher you need to create a spiritual
vocabulary, one that allows you to bypass the thinking mind/ego and
speak directly to, in this case the inner artist/spirit. If you can
communicate to the spirit you can teach anything. I'm reminded of
Michaelangelo who said, when he looked at a block of marble he saw a
figure inside, and he merely chipped away until that figure was
exposed. I believe that we know how to draw and we know how to swing a
golf club, my role as a teacher is to expose that inner/artist, inner/
golfer in my students. Expose the inner artist/spirit in your student,
and the rest almost takes care of itself. Teaching as I see it, is the
same, no matter what you teach just in gauge spirit and trust in the
rest. I see teaching as a bubble or balloon that's always expanding,
and the possibilities are endless. A good teacher not only teaches
their subject, they teach about life. I guess I see myself as a golf/
priest and drawing/priest. I know these are probably not the right
words, but I'm sure you get the idea.
best of teaching and drawing
bob
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