What does a Good Art Teacher Look Like?

Some people are gifted with artistic abilities. Others develop them in time. Most diligent students can become creative artists with the help of good art teachers.

Excellent art teachers are memorable additions to the education process. In many cases, art teachers play monumental roles in the lives of students. Therefore, the question stands: What makes a good art teacher? Listed below are three character traits of a good art teacher.

Passion

Passion is contagious. An art teacher fills the classroom with enthusiasm when he or she enjoys work, continues developing art skills, and encourages students. One of the most effective ways to do this involves creating visual aids. Students need these examples and enjoy seeing a teacher display his or her abilities.

Perspective

When art teachers educate students about perspective, it usually involves discussing a work of art from the artist’s point of view. Another definition of perspective ought to be considered though. When reviewing art work, a good teacher keeps an open mind and invites the student to explain his or her masterpiece. This enables students to express themselves and develop creativity.

One of the biggest mistakes an art teacher can make is failing to consider personal perspective in light of how the project is graded. There is always a story behind an art project and many times it is not what others expect.

Balance

As mentioned above, art teachers need to be passionate, fun-loving, and value the efforts of their students. All the while, they must remember the title of teacher; this role requires a person to instruct the classroom and challenge students, even if it means being “tough” at times. These traits are essential to ensuring students better themselves in areas of creativity and art. Great art teachers know how to be fun and constructive all at once.

When describing a good art teacher, many statements come to mind. One being, teachers are “not born but made”. Over time, these individuals become skilled in the art of teaching. Which seems entirely appropriate for a good art teacher.

Read more Segmation blog posts about Art Projects:

Bauhaus Art School

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Creative Connections Strengthen Schools

There is no secret about it: art makes for an exciting learning environment. Art projects are the first introduction to education for young children. Now, with advancements in art education and the creativity of culture, schools are finding additional benefits to these activities. Art serves as a connector that unifies students and strengthens schools.

Even though art programs have been cut in recent years, teachers and administrators are using classrooms as catalysts for creativity. One example of this is how teachers use hands-on projects to promote learning traditional subject matters. In addition, entire schools are coming together to celebrate the artwork of these non-traditional settings.

As a result, art is becoming the ultimate educator. Even without art classes and proper funding, faculties are using creativity to excite students and promote learning.

Teachers Take Charge of Creativity in the Classroom

More than ever, teachers are picking up the slack for consequences of limited funding. Many educators can be found encouraging students to showcase creativity in the classroom. Using art to inform students about other subject areas is proving to be effective and productive. In the end, students learn in memorable ways and create something they are proud to show off. They are expressing their education, making classroom walls the new chalkboards.

Schools Connect Students in Creative Ways

Administrators are encouraging teachers to make art a part of learning. They are celebrating this by coming up with creative ways to showcase art in every classroom. Some are using murals to display art from all students. This encourages community involvement; different age groups learn to appreciate the artwork of other students, both younger and older. More so, collecting all artwork allows students and teachers to feel invested in schoolwide projects. Likewise, it provides a great backdrop for the learning environment.

Art is a powerful tool for education. It can enhance the atmosphere of learning in any school. When teachers and administrators partner together, they can overcome obstacles of inadequate funding that impacts art education. This unifies a school and inspires student communities.

Read more Segmation blog posts about Art Education:

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Reviving Art as the Heart of Education

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Reviving Art as the Heart of Education

School art programs fall victim to tight budgets. For years, it has been evident that art classes and extracurricular activities suffer because of budget shortages in the education system. Schools strive to meet state and national standards and, as a result, art programs get left behind.

Recognizing its importance, many teachers and parents see to it that art remains a utilized teaching tool in and out of the classroom. Reviving art education is possible, but to fulfill this need, a new approach is required. Reviving art as the heart of education begins in the family and continues in the classroom.

Art Programs Fall Victim to Tight Budgets

In addition to attendance and enrollment, funding for schools relies on teaching, tests, and other measurables. Art cannot be graded this way. As a result, art programs, which produce numerous benefits for developing minds, are not supported by the current education system.

Art as a Teaching Tool

Some schools and districts work hard to preserve art programs. These schools value the fact that art can be used, not only for expression, but as a teaching tool. Many subjects are better taught with an element of creativity; this brings facts to life, makes information stick, and encourages kids to think beyond the learning structure that controls education.

Art at Home

Like all subjects, art isn’t limited to the classroom and it should not be confined to the four walls of a school house. Creativity works to define who we are, what we value and how we exist in the world around us. Art is found in unlikely places when we choose to make art a part of our everyday lives.

Ultimately, facts, figures, concepts, and information are all empty without the element of creativity. It is important to have opportunities to connect with what we see, hear, and learn in meaningful ways. This happens best through creative expression.

Is art a big part of your life? How can you make art a bigger part of your life? How can you encourage children to be creative learners, and how can a creative approach to education enhance the learning experience?

Read more Segmation Blog Posts about Art Education:

Art and Science – A Genius Combination

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Tips for Improving your Landscape Drawing Skills

Whatever your level of skill, these tips will help guide you in developing habits that will grow your abilities to draw and paint landscape scenery with just a couple of weeks of consistent practice.

Implement these for 15 or 20 minutes a day and the improvements will be greatly evident.

Tip No. 1 – Quick Impression Drawings

Get out of the house! Go to the zoo, the museum, a park, an apartment building complex, somewhere other than where you typically draw. Focus on drawing moving things. Drawing objects in motion will help you develop the flow. Every experienced artist can tell you about the flow. Your speed of drawing will increase by practicing these quick impression sketches, but will also help you to develop your perspective drawing skills and build up a repertoire of animals, objects, and people that you can readily access from your mental toolbox.

Tip No. 2 – Blind Drawing

This method is mentioned in all major drawing instruction books and often goes unnoticed or ignored by most artists. This method (also known as “blind contour drawing”) requires that the artist follow its subject with his/her eyes and not focus on the paper they are drawing on. This technique is a great way to keep your drawings vivid and has been dubbed the ultimate anti-stiffening tool in a professional artists bag of tricks.

Tip No. 3 Forget the eraser!

“Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” – Miles Davis

Every line you draw is a representation of your own handwrite. This is the unique signature of your artistic expression. Do you really want to erase that? Practice making every line work for you.

Tip No. 4 Take measurements!

One of the largest sources of complaints of growing artists is that their proportions are off. You don’t need to get fancy here. Use your pencil or other small stick, extend your arm as far as it will go (in order to ensure accuracy for each measurement), and note with your eyes how much of the length of your stick that particular object runs. Drawing roofs, chimneys, beaches, trees, animals, and many other things become much easier to make proportionate when you implement this small technique.

Tip No. 5 – Draw negative space

When you see a bale of hay, a fishing net, or long strands of hair, are you trying to individually draw the lines in the net, the fence, or the hair? Try implementing this technique and draw the negative space and see what objects it works best on. It’s a nifty trick that, when mastered, provides a faster, easier, and better looking drawing of more intricate items.

So grab your pad and pencil and practice, practice, practice! After all, this is the one surefire way to improve!

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Related articles

• Do a Blind Contour Drawing (education.com)
• Exercise 16: Observing negative space and perspective (rlangham.wordpress.com)
• Inspiration Station: Tree Drawings by Tim Knowles (fthats.wordpress.com)