Art Class...Meh

I had my final fundamentals of drawing class tonight. And I'm glad. I enjoyed the class but I didn't like the teacher. I felt like I was being punished for being competent. I found that my teacher gravitated towards the students who complained the most about the assignments and needed the most hand holding in order to figure out what to do. I on the other hand tend to be pretty quiet in class. My philosophy on art is that what you consider garbage someone else will consider gold, so why complain? You're in class to learn, don't put yourself down. So I would show up, do the assignment and leave. I didn't ask for help most of the time because I had a good sense of what I was doing. I felt like the teacher was unduly critical of my work because I didn't ask questions, so she picked at things to complain about, often choosing aspects of the picture I was not remotely finished with when it was obvious that I hadn't gotten to what she wanted.

I feel like the reason she did this was because I was not your average beginning student, i.e., I had self confidence. Since she didn't know how to react to me not whining, she chose this route. I noticed this even more when I started to listen more closely to how she dealt with the other students. She liked talking to the students who complained more because it allowed her to be the good teacher fairy. And when I would ask a question, sometime she answered it, sometimes she didn't. For instance, I asked how to draw a nose, and she didn't go into any detail. Another woman asked the SAME EXACT THING, and she practically drew the entire nose for her. Eh? And tonight, that same woman and I both didn't bring our first drawing to class, because we didn't know we had to. Woman A said she didn't bring it because it was in her other drawing pad. Teacher let it go. I said the same thing, teacher asks me, "Well, do you have anything from a previous night's session you can show?" Um, no. See previous answer.

Just goes to show that some people are bizarre. I will not be taking another class with her but I will take other classes at the League. I also believe that I acted as graciously as I could, listening to her criticism and asking for advice when I felt like my work warranted it. I would even tell her goodbye even though she often said nothing. Except tonight. Tonight I just left.

We are encouraged to fill out reviews of the class. I put all of this in my review. She needs to know for her own edification so that she treats future students like myself better.

So here's my last drawing for class. I am proud of it and proud to have worked so hard. Nothing's stopping me from doing art. NOTHING.



And here's a close up of my favorite section: