Artist-As-Teacher

Rijckaert Atelier.  Courtesy of: http://www.johannesvermeer.info

Perhaps the classroom should operate much like an apprenticeship program.  Students would arrive in the classroom to assist the teacher in whatever production she happens to be currently involved. Graduate programs in Germany position the professor’s studio next to the students' studios. This flips the usual paradigm on its head, making the teacher-as-artist the center of the teaching environment instead of the students, and it challenges the notion of teaching as a selfless act of service. Also, such a practice would both allow the teacher-as-artist to become an artist who teaches, thereby deepening his or her practice, and maybe bringing the students along for the ride.