Tag Archives: teaching art

Changing Roles.

Change Image by Sean MacEntee and marked with a CC BY 2.o license from creative commons

Everyone has a COVID19 story. Do I tell mine? What do I leave out; what do I share? What do I want to remember? Who even cares? Is there anything I can say that will inspire others?

On March 20, I emergency evacuated out of Chennai, India, where I taught Art for two years. I bought the last available ticket on an Emirates flight, bound for the USA, which would leave in 6 hours. That flight was their last flight into/out of India at that time. As I left and locked my apartment, I realized I might not be back, I might not ever see my friends again, and I might not get my possessions back. I cried all the way to the airport.

Some big things have happened to me during this pandemic. I’ve been in quarantine two different times, for 14 days each. I’ve lost my teaching job in India. My brother and I had to move our mother into a memory care facility and empty her home.  I lived with married friends for two months. I taught my Indian Art classes, and zoomed into faculty meetings, on India Standard Time until the end of the school year. To do this meant I stayed up all night long for 11 long weeks. I’ve moved to a new-to-me city in the USA. I’ve lived with my adult daughter and her family for two months. I’ve loved learning how to be a Grandma. I’ve made a decision to not go back into the classroom full time, for now.

Some little things have happened to me also. I’ve noticed the plants in my neighborhood and I’ve tried to learn their names. I’ve become interested in USA history after watching Hamilton, on Broadway, three times on the Disney channel. I’ve gained weight, although I do 100 lunges each morning when I take my grandson on a walk in his stroller. I’ve learned to appreciate and enjoy ordinary things like leaving the house to go to the grocery store. I’ve delighted in re-learning childhood songs to sing out loud. I’ve joined some virtual Meetups. I’ve been a student in a live art class which was broadcast from London. And I’ve decided to write more.

I’m exploring possibilities that I’ve never had time to explore before. What is available in this new world? How might I participate in ways that are unique, include family and friends, and allow for art-making while earning income? How can I change and adapt to the new?

What new ideas are you exploring?

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Change image by Sean MacEntee and marked with a CC BY 2.0 license from Creative Commons.

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What I know to be true

Art and travel change lives.

The first day I stepped onto my college campus in 1978, as an anxious 19 year old, I declared my major as Art Education. I loved learning and I loved college – so much in fact, that I went year round. I never stopped for a break. I took classes in the summer, during Christmas break and spring break. I remember dreading to take the compulsory art history courses, however. All I’d heard was that they required lots of memorization of artists’ and paintings’ names, dates (oh my!) and hours of boring lectures. But two art history classes were required so I reluctantly signed up for them. And was I in for a surprise!

I loved them.

Sitting in that large amphitheater-like lecture room in permanent, worn, folding wooded chairs that perfectly fit my back, viewing hundreds of images, I learned about the history of the world, through art. It made me feel “connected”. It helped me understand the importance of art and why creativity makes us human. My imagination soared as I vicariously traveled the globe learning about different cultures of people, the objects they revered and the ways that they found to express themselves through a variety of materials. It was at the end of my sophomore year that I made the decision to change my major to fine art. I then continued to work to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I knowingly announced, “I want to be an artist, not an art teacher!” . . . little did I know that 20 years later I would find my way back to the classroom.

It was not until I began teaching full time, in 2001, that I understood what an incredible career path teaching is if travel is a priority. I have about 13 weeks off per year! Teachers don’t usually receive large salaries so I’ve had to learn how to penny-pinch. I save what I can, but I also sell my art. I work extra jobs at school like proctoring the SAT and taking tickets at our football games in the fall. Sometimes I teach private art lessons or hold garage sales. When I get money as gifts, I save it for travel.

I also pay for all my monthly expenses with credit cards and collect airline miles with each purchase. I’ve taught my college-age daughter how to do this, as well, and she now collects miles for herself. One of the cards I currently use came with 100,000 miles upon my qualifying and completing a minimum spend in the first three months. This translates into two, round-trip European airline tickets I’ve got in my back pocket. The other card accumulates points connected to a hotel chain, but those points can be transferred into airline miles and with every 20,000 I transfer, they “give” me a bonus of an additional 5,000. Being mindful to not get into financial trouble by overspending my credit cards, I treat my credit cards as a debit cards (in my mind). When I make a purchase, I always use my credit card and then, immediately, I note it and take it out of my checking account right then and there. At the end of the month, when I receive my credit card statement, I balance my checkbook, marking off the purchases, one at a time, that I’ve already subtracted out of my checking account. When I’ve gone through the statement, I know I can pay it off and write a check (or pay online) for the entire balance. I never carry a balance on my credit card. I never get charged finance charges for late payments or pay interest. This takes being responsible and organized, but right now I have enough miles for three, roundtrip tickets to Europe! It seems worth it to me.

Travel changes the lives of everyone involved. New relationships are formed and we influence one another. The study of art history provides a foundation for understanding what you are looking at when you travel to foreign lands. Through the art objects we learn to appreciate cultures that are different from our own. Many of the man-made items we see in our travels are artworks. All that we enjoy as tourists, such as palace and cathedral architecture, historical bridges and walls, woven fabrics, rugs and tapestries, marble sculpture and fountains, ethnic clothing, ceramic vessels, oil paintings and frescos is art! – – humans made that stuff!!! Amazing, isn’t it? And all of us have the capacity to create!

My next three weeks of articles will highlight three educational recruitment firms that I’ve been following for at least five years. I hope to describe the differences in them and how one might consider being hired to teach overseas if a life of adventure suits you. I had already taught art for quite a few years when it occurred to me that teaching was a ticket to live other places. Even though we Americans often hear horrible accounts of how bad our public school education system is, most of the world longs to learn from us and would be overjoyed for us to share what we know about education with them.

Has the study of art influenced your travels or have you been able to travel because of a creative job or adventure seeking lifestyle? Please do share!

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