Maintaining an Active Studio Practice as a Teaching Artist
Attention Art Educators: your teaching will improve if you continue to make your art!
The best thing you can do is make your own art. It will help you to better understand the processes you are asking your students to go through, and it will mean that they get to learn from a professional, practicing artist.
To stay productive, be sure to:
Schedule Studio Time. Maybe it is once a week, or once a month when you are busy with work. The important thing is that your studio time is in your schedule, somewhere, and that you honor that block of time.
Apply for Shows , Public Works, and Residencies. Keeping active in your field is important to your growth as an artist. We need to be connected to a larger community. Sometimes you will be accepted, other times rejected. Keep applying..
Complete Your Own Version(s) of Projects You Assign to Students. This will keep your skills sharp, boost student engagement, and keep you immersed in the process along with your students, all while giving you some studio time. There may even be times where you can get some sketching done while students are working, depending on their age and needs.
Prepare High Quality Demos and Work Examples. Let them be your art. Align your demos and work samples with the type of work you do in your studio. Students will appreciate it and find it interesting , and you will get some studio time in.
Stay Curious about Art techniques, Art History, and visual culture in general. Take an online course on Coursera. Read about Contemporary Art and Art History, and find other artists who have worked with similar ideas as you.
Engage in the process of making your art as often as possible. Carve out the time. Your schedule will only accommodate for your art-making time if you organize your time with intention. Figure out your natural working rhythm and the times of the day or conditions that allow you to be the most creative. Work with those, not against them.
You will feel more like yourself when you are keeping a regular art-making schedule. You’ve learned by now that it is something you need. So give yourself that time and space!