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Terry Nelson
Hello, Artists and Fans,
I would like to share a little about me and what I think is important in art education. I have always loved art. I remember spending hours when I was 5 and 6 just coloring in coloring books, while my mom ironed. I also remember kids at school coming to me in 2nd and 3rd grade asking me to draw them a mermaid or fairy. I didn’t think much about it until high school when I took a drawing class and really shocked and impressed myself. I was so pleased that if I kept at it, ... read moreI could be successful. It was work, and there weren’t any short cuts, but it was so satisfying when I saw my progress! The same was true for me as a student teacher. I really didn’t have much confidence at first, but it did seem to come naturally. I was grateful for the teachers who mentored me, because they really showed me that I could do this. Some days are challenging, but overall, it’s been a great fit for me for 20+ years. It just takes a lot of energy!
The greatest pleasure I have in the art room is seeing students surprise themselves with their own developing skill. I still struggle to learn how to master some art materials, like throwing on the wheel, watercolor and oil painting, and most recently polymer clay. This is good for me, because the fear of failure is real. I am hesitant at times to jump right into things before I know for sure what I’m doing. This gives me genuine empathy for my students. We must all be brave enough to try. We strive to have a “growth mindset” in the art room, where if we can’t do something, it’s okay. We can’t do it YET, but with practice and perseverance, it will get easier. But we have to try and perhaps fail, and try again.
Over the years I have tried many different ways to teach. There’s always a balance between complete freedom to explore and guided step-by-step directions. This is a big deal in art education right now. Process vs. product. Which is more important? I hope I can stay in the middle and offer both methods to learn, because I truly believe students can benefit from both. Sometimes we all do not work at the same pace, or have the same interests, so directed lessons can be more of a struggle in a large group setting. Still, there are skills we can practice together this way, and hopefully apply later when given free choice. I had a class in college in oil painting, where we weren’t given instruction, just time to explore. I felt so lost and confused and hopeless. I needed step by step directions at first. Sometimes we want things spelled out, sometimes we want to figure things out on our own.
Lately, I am seeing the connection between art making and social-emotional learning (also known as SEL). Art is a great way to share our feelings, our ideas, and our values. I am slowly stepping toward more and more lessons that build this awareness for our students. Being aware of our own emotions is the first step to becoming more empathetic towards others. Being aware of our feelings is also the first step in being able to manage our feelings and actions. You will notice our self portraits and color lessons incorporate more feelings.
One last thing: I am hopeful that I give students many different materials to explore. It is my goal that all students will feel satisfied and proud of their accomplishments in at least one art material. I also like to use “scaffolding” from one year to the next, adding more challenging projects as their skills develop. So we learn to weave with paper strips in first grade but work up to being able to weaving on a cardboard loom in 4th grade. Clay lessons employ more skill as students grow in their abilities as well: pitch pots in kindergarten, moving toward ceramic mugs in 4th grade. My biggest problem is deciding what can fit into one school year, because there are infinite number of projects and materials to choose from these days.
I will try my best to document each student’s work here on Artsonia, because part of what we do as teachers, is show growth. This is motivating for both students and for us teachers. As a parent I would have loved this digital gallery. I saved a lot of my own daughters’ art and am so glad I did, but it does take up space. I hope you enjoy our online gallery. Please visit often!
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