Coffee Cups and Wet Feet

Throughout my years of art education I have discovered the key to being a successful art tutor is to be a friend – someone that the student can just talk to – nine times out of ten you can iron out the creases in your ideas just by saying them out loud. It is never the place of the tutor to tell you that your ideas are not good enough – there is no right or wrong in creativity, it is their job to guide you in the right direction, to show you the work of like-minded artists, and most importantly to build your confidence.

My A-Level art tutor was an inspiration to me – she fought the ‘academic’ tutors who declared her subject to be ‘less important’ and a ‘distraction to hard working pupils’. Throughout this she maintained a positive attitude - continuing to encourage and inspire us, reminding us that if we are confident, we are relaxed.

To finish this short article is the statement that never failed to get me out of an artists’ block –

"Hey! - coffee cups can be more beautiful than fancy sculptures. A kiss in the morning can be more dramatic than a drama by Mr. Fancypants. The sloshing of my foot in my wet boot sounds more beautiful than fancy organ music."

Dick Higgins, 1979