A few weeks ago, my family and I watched the Michael J. Fox t.v. special (based on his latest book), "Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist." In this special, Fox searches for optimistic people in order to pinpoint how they do it. He also searches for the effects that optimism has on their lives. It was a really interesting special. One of the people/groups of people Fox identifies as optimistic are artists. Fox believes that Artists by nature, are optimists. He notes that creativity and determination to do what you feel and love equates to optimism. They have to be optimistic since 90% are unable to sell their work leaving them unemployed artists.
Do we teach optimism in our art courses? What a fantastic character trait for art educators to teach! I can imagine our students hearing the stories of starving artists like Van Gogh, helping to connect art to their own life's challenges. What other character traits does art teach our students and how do you teach them?
1 comment:
I like the topic of optimism. In fact, I have a tag on my blog that is labeled "Positive Attitudes" it's so important in all we do and YES can be taught through art. Looks like you have some interesting stuff here, thanks for sharing!
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