I Teach My First Class Today!

Here is the description of the class I will teach as it appears in the Hunterdon ARC recreation newsletter:

"In the first session of Art Club we will be exploring collage. Collage is great because you can use pictures of things instead of drawing. There are so many printed images in all of our magazines and newspapers, just waiting for us to use them in new ways! In class #1 we will be looking at the collages that other artists make to get inspiration. We will also be searching for images we would like to use. In class #2 we will assemble our images and add other elements, such as glitter, stars, paint, colored paper, or anything else we can think of. In the final class, we will finish assembling the collages and mount them to black board for display. We will have a mini show and admire eachother's work."

I have been daydreaming about this class and preparing for it since January. I can't really tell if I am actually ready or not. Guess I will find out.

I decided to do this for 2 reasons. Kate would come home form a craft activity at the ARC and say to me, "I could have done this better, but we ran out of time." Because of this I wanted to propose a 3 day class so that these people would have enough time to really do what they want to do. The other reason I decided to do this was because of a visit I made to a career counselor recently. We talked about what I would rather be doing with my life, and I know I would love to be a teacher. I know it really isn't too late, but I just don't feel like going back to college AND working AND taking care of everything Kate needs AND trying to have a life with my husband and making art. So, this a way for me to get some experience teaching, and maybe getting a foot in the door at a non-profit like the ARC.

I have visions of the people in the class creating fascinating examples of outsider art. One thing I would like to do is scan in all of the collages and creating a set of note cards that can be bought by the community and would benefit "Art Club." Eventually I will become creative director of a place like Creativity Explored. A person can dream, can't they?