Art in Schools & Youth Centres

To carry on from my last post, I failed art in high school. I wasn’t inspired to create the way I was supposed to. And I wasn’t mature enough to take what was being offered and use it my own way. It wasn’t my way of learning, being told to paint something a certain way. I’ve always been a very independent learner and for me the way art was taught just wasn’t vibing with me.

 Its always funny now, because I go back into schools and run workshops with young people (typically year 9/10 into VCE classes) and offer a different approach to art, creativity and how to turn art into a career. I see so much value in this aspect of my work because its something I never had – and would have really benefited from. How to harness inspiration, passion & use the right tools to create something special. To understand how to think creatively to overcome problems & work with other peoples ideas. 

 Now, I’m no teacher, and I don’t pretend to be able to teach the technical side of art or anything of that manner. But I aim to inspire the young people to think about art & creativity differently. For me, workshops are about encouraging students to connect with their creativity & explore how they can express themselves. Essentially help them discover who they want to be, and to think creatively about problems/ issues and apply their own take on how to overcome to get a result they are stoked with.

 My goal is to inspire students that might have been disengaged with the standard education system we have. Because I know while I was head strong & went through it because I had something to prove – it definitely wasn’t the best system for me. And some young people need a different approach, a creative approach.

 Art in schools is so much bigger then teaching students basics or to build a portfolio. I think we need to focus on the importance of WHAT is taught through being creative. And show young people how creative thinking is used in every day life. And how knowing how to express yourself is an important life skill. In the same way we use sport to teach team work and how to apply that across other aspects of life – Art needs to be embraced in the same way. We can use art, creative thinking & each persons unique interpretation as a way of teaching young people how to accept each others differences, opinions & still work together to create something special. 

Stay Rad!