• 10 Nov, 2025 *

Teaching art is. . . an interesting beast, especially in a capitalist driven society. I’ve worked in mostly non-traditional classroom settings like community centers and after school programs. Students come to us at very different levels, and for all sorts of reasons.

Many young artists believe their creative pursuits are something they need to either excel in now or abandon when college comes around, and are pushing themselves very hard to grow. Other students are there because they have an abundance of energy their parents hope we can help them channel through the arts (we certainly can).

My favorite age group teach is young teens; I love when they’re just starting to ask The Big Questions. Plus, my own art education only began in my mid twenties. Being a vibes only artist for the majority of my career helps me relate on a personal level to my students who are at a huge crossroads between childhood and adulthood.

A Basquiat inspired piece I made at the community center I work at

One of my biggest takeaways from studying art at community college is that while there is a time and place for fundamentals they should never override instinct. Making art is vulnerable. Even classes I’ve taught for adults sometimes see a tear or two shed by the end. Putting pressure on top of that to make some beautiful masterpiece every time you create will always ruin the experience.

When kids ask for help, I always let them lead by asking them to tell me exactly what it is they are unhappy or struggling with. Many times - especially with young children - their immediate reaction is to say “I don’t know, it just doesn’t look like the example.”

From there we’ve got two paths we normally go down: first, I explain to them that is part of the point of art. The example is a starting point, but all the ways your piece is different is what makes it yours. Sometimes that’s enough for a kiddo! If they still seem unhappy with the work, I’ll ask them for specifics. What do you wish looked more like the example, or even just your version of the example? If they can identify a few things, I’ll try and help them learn a new technique or two.

I went to a conference for teaching artists and one of my favorite conversations actually happened over lunch. We were discussing an interesting paradox: many if not all of us had encountered a student who claimed to be in “too bad a place to make art.”

The issue we were brainstorming was how to gently break to students that when you’re feeling awful is kinda sorta when you need to be making art the most. . .

Even as grown-up artists at different stages of our careers-at a teaching artist summit, no less-needed the same reminder. It’s hard not to believe that if we feel gross, our art will be gross too. First of all that isn’t always the case. But even if it were, so what? At least that gross is out of your system now, and hopefully you processed a little something along the way.

Living in late stage capitalism has put many of us in a place where even little kids think “If I’m gonna do art, it has to be really good.” A way more important question to be asking is whether it felt good to make.

Not if you felt good going in. You don’t even really need to feel better coming out; feeling better is a long term process sometimes. Remember that art is above all a tool for both creator and viewer. The best art is created when we fully surrender ourselves to it and feel our way through the process.

Let yourself make “bad” art. Focus on feeling. Art is transmutation. Don’t be afraid to be human.

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