I have been teaching at the Metro Arts Community Center through Louisville Metro Parks for over 27 years now. I took my first class there around 1982 while I was in middle school and a few years later I was graciously allowed to wipe off the tables, sweep and mop the pottery studio floors in lieu of payment for art classes. During the summer of 1993, I worked at the center, traveling to Summer Camps throughout the city to teach art to children. I've been teaching cartooning, drawing and painting at the Center on a regular basis since 1998.
Art is about the Journey -
Finding Your Path is Part of the Journey.
Being an Artist is solving how to find a means of expressing oneself.
I strongly believe that everyone deserves to find a creative outlet. If you can express yourself then you have the main component in being an artist – a voice. It is your choice to speak softly, loudly or somewhere in the middle. You don't have to be the loudest to be heard, you just have to put yourself out there. As an art instructor my goal is to help you find your voice.
One of the most amazing things about children is that they have not yet developed the fear of being socially stigmatized for allowing their imagination to fuel the way they see the world. As we grow, we start to develop a sense of how the world is and how world should be. This pre-conceived view actually is one of the major roadblocks in developing as a visual artist. Once it's taken root in the mind, it's hard to be removed. Drawing well is about not just seeing the dots but being able to connect them or in other words, seeing the details along with seeing the larger picture as a whole.
Like learning to play an instrument, the visual artist has to put time in and practice. Becoming disciplined in practicing is only done if you love what you're doing. I love teaching the introductory classes for the simple reason if I'm able create a positive environment to the aspiring student artist then they will more likely continue to enrich themselves through whatever form of self-expression that they enjoy. And in turn, I would have helped in making the world a little more beautiful.
Art Classes at Beechmont Community Center
Here's a video that Louisville Metro TV did in February 2022 spotlighting art classes being taught at Beechmont Community Center including my cartooning class.