Design Principles: Caring, Success and Failure
Structures #43 ©2005 21" x 22"
Post #3 on my thoughts on the design principles from my kids’ Expeditionary Learning school and how they relate to being an artist. [All my posts on design principles.]
Design Principle #4: Empathy and Caring
Learning is fostered best in small groups where there is trust, sustained caring and mutual respect among all members of the learning community. Keep schools and learning groups small. Be sure there is a caring adult looking after the progress of each child. Arrange for the older students to mentor the younger ones.
As this principle states my kids school is very small with only ~300 kids in grades K-12. All of them in a single building, high schoolers with first graders. The classrooms are paired up, older with younger grades, and once a week they get together for a "crew buddy" activity. It’s a wonderful experience for both the younger and the older kids.
Mentoring
I was fortunate to have some supportive mentors when I first started out making art. Having someone to ask questions, bounce ideas off of, and give suggestions is helpful in developing as an artist. Now I have a desire to share that with others to help them in a similar way I was helped. One of the goals of my blog is to do exactly that. I share my experiences and hope that others can gain from it.
The past year I’ve wanted to do something more tangible and specific along these lines. So I’ve started thinking about developing a mentoring program of some type. It’s something I want to do sometime this year, after I move and after I finish my website and after I get my book done. So I’m thinking end of fall or early winter having it in place. I have a bunch of ideas floating around in my head as to what this might look like, so watch this space in a few months as things become more concrete and I announce my plans.
Design Principle #5: Success and Failure
All students must be assured a fair measure of success in learning in order to nurture the confidence and capacity to take risks and rise to increasingly difficult challenges. But it is also important to experience failure, to overcome negative inclinations, to prevail against adversity and to learn to turn disabilities into opportunities.
I have had some really wonderful successes in my art career and I’ve had some set backs. While it’s easy to proceed in the face of resounding success it’s a lot harder to keep going when rejected or things don’t pane out as planned. I believe that successful people are those that respond well to failure. They learn to just keep on going as they have a strong belief in themselves and in what they want to do. They know they will eventually succeed and so they just keep moving forward, changing direction when one avenue fails and trying a different approach.
In fact I think this is the notable difference between those we view as very accomplished and those that never get far. Very few people never meet with failure or rejection, really probably no one. The questions is - what do you do when things don’t go well? Do you give up or do you continue to pursue your dream?
Moving Update
Yesterday was the last day of contractors in the house. It’s almost finished! Although I had hoped today would be a studio day I’ll be putting back the last of my furniture, washing windows, touching up a bit of paint, doing a bit of yard work, hanging the last few curtains. And of course putting some of my art back on the walls.
At 9am tomorrow morning I’ll have my first showing even though the house doesn’t officially go on the market until Tuesday. If you want to buy a gorgeous house in Parker Colorado let me know. It has an awesome studio.
Structures #43 - Moving Sale
I made Structures #43 a few years ago as a color study. This is the first of the thin line pieces that uses a different color family for the lines than for the ground. As I was just playing around I wasn’t getting too caught up in perfection. As a result I love the free flowing feeling of this piece that sometimes I fail to capture in my work if I get too analytical. I can tell when I into that right brain grove of making art as everything flows and it’s effortless. This piece is also available as part of my moving sale. Originally priced at $750, it is $450 until June 15.
If you are interested in purchasing Structures #43, or any of my available artwork please email me.
Detail of Structures #43:
Posted by Lisa in: Being an Artist
Tagged: Art for Sale, artist success, design principles, mentoring, Moving
vikki said,
June 1, 2008 @ 11:27 am
Hi,
I love your textile art. Beautiful work. My name is Vikki North and I’m a working California artist. There’s a couple artist on my blog that do textural pieces in oils and glasses that’s reminiscent of your pieces.
I’d like to invite you to come check out my blog and gallery site. Lots of other artist and some patrons respond. They’re an inspiration for many of my own painitngs.. Come visit.
Vikki
http://redchair-vikkisblog.blogspot.com/
and http://www.theredchairgallery.com/
Wanda said,
June 1, 2008 @ 11:28 am
principal #4 sounds like the old one room schoolhouses that I went to as a child. We heard what was being taught to the older kids and that is how I knew the color wheel as young as first grade. The older kids always looked out for the little kids.
vikki said,
June 1, 2008 @ 11:29 am
…And that was suppose to read ‘textural art.’ Sorry.
Vikki
Lisa Call said,
June 1, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
Thanks Vikki.
Wanda - How cool! My dad and mom both went to one room schoolhouses also. My kids spend most of their time with their crews (ie classes) although they do have multi-age classrooms (my daughter is with all 6-8th graders).
Laure said,
June 2, 2008 @ 5:56 am
Hi, Lisa, I believe your mentoring has already begun - and is very successful - on your blog! I, for one, have learned a tremendous amount from you this year and you’ve inspired me as well as challenged my thinking on various things - I look forward to hearing more about what you’ve got in mind!
Laure
Stacey Peterson said,
June 2, 2008 @ 7:45 am
Lisa - seeing what you share on your blog, I think you would be able to really give back and impact others with a mentorship program. There comes a time when the standard weeklong workshop format ceases to be useful, and an artist needs a mentor or teacher to go deeper - unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of artists out there filling that need. It’s great that you’re thinking about it!
I’m going to be doing a 6 month mentorship program with landscape painter Jay Moore starting in July, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to have some in-depth, long-term instruction from someone whose work and business practices I respect. I’m so excited I can’t stand it! Hopefully I’ll have some ideas about how to pass that knowledge on when it’s over…
Daniel Sroka said,
June 2, 2008 @ 8:43 am
I just watched the movie “Once”, and found myself envious of the casual yet engaged mentoring and peer-to-peer collaboration that can exist for musicians. Being a visual artist — essentially a solitary act — is a little too lonely at times.
Leslie said,
June 4, 2008 @ 12:08 am
Yes, I’m also finding my work as an artist too solitary. Haven’t yet found the groups or mentors to connect with and I think that’s one of my top priorities now. The energy of collaboration and mutual inspiration is powerful.
Your mentoring has already started through this blog, Lisa. If you take it to a more formal level, I just might ask you to be mine. Wishing you the best in all your endeavors!
Lisa Call said,
June 4, 2008 @ 8:04 pm
Laura - thank you - I’m glad you find value in my posts. Stay tuned for more details!
Stacey - I agree - at some point the week long workshops are no longer the thing we need. Your 6 month program sounds awesome! What an excellent opportunity.
Daniel - I’ll have to check out that movie. I do think one of the things I will miss when I eventually quit the day job is the collaboration - my job is mostly about talking to people and coming to agreement. It’s pretty fun most days. Just not as fun as art.
Leslie - thank you for the compliments. Finding good groups can really make a huge difference. I think taking a class is a good way to meet like minded artists. Goo luck for you also.