why i make art... why i teach art

I make art when I can not speak.

I make art when I feel alone and I do not want to be.

I make art when I am happy, when I am sad, when I am in love and when I do not know how I am feeling at all.

I make art to feel safe about who I am.



I teach art so others may learn how to speak when they feel they can't.

I teach art so those who feel alone, will no longer feel that way.

I teach art so that ART and the word and knowledge of all the artists that have come before me and that will come after me will be heard and understood.

As I am writing this entry, I am at Caldera, teaching film to middle school students. It is freeing to be working in a beautiful, natural environment and be teaching a digital, modern art. I watch my students light up when they see their ideas come to life in the form of a movie. I feel my heart light up when I hear a 12-year old say "Camera Rolling!" and another reply "ACTION!".

As artists, we must also be teachers. We must allow ourselves to understand our crafts fully-- that is our responsibility to the world. We must then pass our knowledge on to the future artists so that ART does not die. That is our responsibility to our ART.