I took down my “blog break” post because I feel compelled to write after all! In that post, I mentioned trying to slow myself down and take things a few steps at a time. I am tired of trying to be
Wonder Woman.
Something happened yesterday that really made me think about trying to do it
ALL. This entire week, I have been sitting in various trainings and trying to get my school art room ready. The training workshops run the gamut. Some are informative. Some are as boring as hell. Some are a waste of time. Some are idiotic. Yesterday, I attended an art teacher training. It was quite interesting and fun. It started off with announcements of art department business, district technology resources, and a brief talk given by a retiring art teacher. One thing she said that stuck in my mind was that she believes art educators should be artists too. Of course, I sat up straight in my seat.
“I am!” I thought. I turned and looked out into the auditorium. I realized many art teachers do not make their own art. In my opinion, this is OK too. I have learned this from experience. At one time, I was an education coordinator and would hire artists to teach. A person can be the next Michelangelo and not be able to teach someone how to lick a stamp! Likewise, I have known many art teachers who were phenomenal art teachers, but have a hard time drawing a stick figure. So, it all depends.
The next speaker was the brilliant, conceptual artist,
Ray Azcuy. He was a former art educator and administrator in our county. He moved to Miami to work in arts administration. He is now retiring to be a full time artist. He too mentioned the importance of being an artist / art educator. However, he also spoke the same thing I thought. Not all artists are teachers or vice versa. He showed images of his work and then answered questions. Some of the questions dealt with the idea of juggling a day job with your artist’s job. He said he would work on his art at night and weekends. He even admitted using his “sick days” to get a little more art time if he had an approaching deadline. When he said this, I looked over at my art supervisor and wondered if that idea made her cringe.
I relate to Ray’s words and his description of the day job
“dance”. I am not known as a Type A, all star, art teacher anymore. Sometimes, I feel bad about that. Years ago, I would volunteer all my time to the cause. I took classes and meetings, and gave my life away. My art suffered and I became very unhappy. So I changed the way I do things now. I can’t volunteer to spend my time hanging student exhibitions or be on textbook committees or take trainings all summer.
NOPE! I go to work and do a great job while I am on their clock. When the school day is over, MY art time begins. So I have a teacher’s hat and then an artist’s hat. I switch hats at 2:30 every weekday. Nobody can do
EVERYTHING. You have to make choices and set priorities. I would love to be a super, duper, Wonder Woman. I am not.

I have to live with the idea I am not
Super Teacher or
Wonder Woman. This is difficult for me because I always want to be the BEST at what I do. You can be the best, but not at everything. If I have to make a choice, I just want to be known as
Sheree who does her BEST at creating her art. That is just fine with me.