As I was reading through the blog, I was reading Brian’s blog post titled Power In The Internet; An Artist’s Dilemma. I really enjoyed reading it. He says, “The option to teach is a gift which enables musicians to support themselves financially as they try and pursue the creation of music or visual art, as well as the continuation of the music tradition—of course, there also exist those who want to teach the future generations the tradition of art”.
Artists tend to have financial struggles throughout their career because as Prince stated in his first visit to Geneseo, “artists work on come and go paychecks, sometimes you have lots of money and then you go without receiving pay for months”. This leads to a lot of artists to pursue a career in teaching art.
Teaching art is just as important as the physical act of making art. By teaching art, teachers have the power to inspire the next generation of artists. I was enrolled in a lot of art classes throughout high school and my teachers inspired me to create art and pursue an education in photography. Even though I didn’t end up going to art school, my art teachers had such an incredible influence on my path of exploring my artistic talent.
Steve Prince is an artist but also an educator. When he was telling our class his story & how he got to where he is today, he inspired me. He inspired me to want to inspire the next generation of young artists. I think there is a stigma, unfortunately, against teaching especially in the united states. This is honestly so heartbreaking to me. Teaching is such an empowering and worthwhile career, I hope artists realize how much of an impact they can carry on the youth.