Ponderings and Musings...My Story as an Artist and Teacher



I'm an artist. I'm a mixed media instructor. I teach people. It's what I do best. Come the end of 2007, I do not know what I will be doing. I'm scared. I'm nervous. I am not a developer of product. I am not a seller of product. I am not one who is interested in "ways to make a fast buck". I'm a teacher. I teach. It's what I do. It's what I've been doing for almost 10 years now.

Tristan was born in 1997. For several months I worked at a bookstore near my home. A few months before Tristan was born, while walking into work, I walked and fell in liquid garbage that was left on the floor (that I obviously did NOT see). That accident changed my life in many ways. I had to stop working (I won't go into the back pain I experienced, my son being born with kidney problems -was it because of the fall?- and the experience of falling while carrying a baby plus, I was emotionally traumatized with everything that had happened I never wanted to set food in that place again-it was horrible). I won't go into the financial aspect of it, but I don't want to ever ever have to be in that place again.

Almost a year after Tristan was born, I had been making and selling greeting cards (and doing well at it-not great, but well). David was working again (he was also out of work at the time I had fallen, having lost his job because of massive lay offs of a big name company). I walked into Stamp Stamp Stamp in Century City and it was suggested that I show Nancy Shillito my cards. Nancy worked at the store and was also a teacher for Judikins. She's a very good soul. She was extremely kind at my (novice) cards and told me that I should try my hand at teaching. I taught a few classes at the various Stamp Stamp Stamp stores in the beginning. I also started to branch out to other locations but the classes didn't fill well. Plus, they didn't "fill me" well.

I learned how to make books. I began exploring paint and canvas and collage (again). In the process, I taught myself. My classes changed. It was *very very VERY* hard in the beginning trying to get stores (and students!!) into things other then shaker cards, shrink plastic and the like. Violet from Violets Rubber Stamp Inn, Rita from West Hills Rubber Stamp Shoppe, Laurie & Rich from A Little Bizaar, and a handful of other generous store owners let me try. We've come a long way, baby.

After branching out from basic cards to a whole 'nother universe, I started teaching across the country. That was even more difficult (trying to "sell" my classes in the East Coast where no one was doing stuff like this at the stamp stores). Nee of CT & Nee, Jaime of Crafters Workshop and a few other stamp store owners let me try. I held many a first "East Coas" class at someone's home in those days, too.

I started using acrylic paint in my class. I started using better supplies. Supplies cost money. I had to raise my prices. I had to fight to raise my prices. I still do not believe in making students go out and buy hundreds of dollars of supplies for a class. I would rather bring them for you, so you can experiment. It was a fight and sadly, it still is with some. People do not realize that it is not unusual for me to spend over $25,000 a year on supplies for my classes (not for me!!) for my students' use. I still only make less than minimum wage.

Slowly my student base grew. I began to develop a "core group" of students-people that were eager to learn, experiment, play and push themselves. I still teach many of those students today...and I consider them friends and amazing artists in their own right.

I've taught across the U.S. I've taught in Canada. I've taught off the coast of Mexico. I've taught in people's homes. I've taught in rubber stamp stores. I've taught at all of the big name conventions. I've taught in MA, NY, RI, CT, MD, FL, CO, NE, NV, AZ, OR, and CA. I mainly teach in rubber stamp stores.

I've been supporting my family (husband, child, me) as the sole supporter for the last 6 years now. Granted, we drive a 15 year old car (that needs a new engine). We live in the same rent controlled apartment that we moved into 11 years ago. We go without a lot of things. Most people take vacations. We don't. If I take a vacation, it's a working vacation meaning, I teach. I'm not telling you this for sympathy or anything else like that. I'm telling you it because it is the truth. I am not "rich" money wise (but rich in so many other ways)...I support my family but we live on a minimum wage salary. We live paycheck to paycheck like so many families do. I consider myself extremely lucky to be doing what I do and am thankful for it every day.

Folks, our stamp stores are in trouble. Seriously. Come the end of this year, the Mecca of Stamping might not exist anymore-Southern California (seriously, remember those days? We were considered extremely lucky to live where there were stamps growing off of the trees ;) ).

I have been exploring other options (just in case) but am finding myself in another fight. Institutions, colleges, and the like are biased against someone who has taught "at a rubber stamp store". Like it is a disease or a bad thing. They tell me it is is not real art. They don't look at my experience (I book classes every single weekend that I can. I have done that for 8 years now. I honestly think that I have taught well over 30,000 students in that time period-I am NOT tooting my own horn, my records show it.) How can teaching someone art be a "bad thing"? I do not understand that mentality.

I'm not sure how the year will end. I know that nothing lasts forever. But there is one thing I know for sure (Thanks Erma) that I am a teacher. I am an artist. I am an art teacher. That is what I am and what I always will be.