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I was awarded the Carroll Kehne Award For Excellence in Art Education this weekend, an award given by the Delaplaine Visual Arts Center in Frederick Md. I have been teaching painting classes there for fifteen years. Though I have been there a long time I am not sure how deserving I am of the award although I am very pleased and honored to receive it. Some of my student showed up at the award ceremony, one even said some very nice words about me and my teaching. This too pleased me very much.

So why do I feel that maybe I am not so deserving of the award?

I had not intended to become a teacher of art in the early years of my art career. My plan was to be a famous and thereby be a rich artist. This of course did not happen, though I have not given up hope that it still could J .  I started to teach painting classes to adults to supplement our (my wife and my) income. But teaching has given me gifts I did not expect. Because when you teach you have to practice what you preach, it taught me to have confidence in what I do, and to have a better understanding of how and why I do what I do. It showed me that making mistakes, even in front of my students, was OK and thereby show them it is OK for them to make mistakes as well. It allowed me to see and be amazed at the progress of my students. When I would see in a students eyes that he or she finally ‘got it’ it was a wonderful moment for them and me. I once had a student come to me and tell me that she '...saw the sunset for the first time'. She began to see the world with an artist’s eye, so cool.

Often there are rewards, gifts, given unintentionally when one does something, even if the doing was for other reasons then those gifts. I know I will not teach forever, there will come a day when I will stop teaching and just paint. But till that time comes I will do what I can to help those who want to learn to paint or to just get better at their painting. And I will except those unexpected gifts that make it all worth while.

Thank you Delaplaine and thank you to all the students who have had to put up with me.