Why teaching workshops helps me grow as an artist

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard an artist complain that they absolutely dread teaching, I'd be able to buy a lot of art supplies!

Jokes aside, I understand that teaching workshops or private classes is not for everyone. While I personally enjoy meeting and working with students, I can see how for some people it is a struggle to engage or to translate your own learnings and expertise into digestible information for students (possibly with varying degrees of enthusiasm.)

However even on days where I am not feeling social, or I'm teaching in a stressful environment, I always walk away at the end of the class feeling inspired and satisfied - albeit exhausted.

Trying to explain techniques, or answer a question often makes me stop and examine how and why I approach my own painting process. While I love to work intuitively and not overthink my painting, the moments during teaching where I have to explain myself, lead to reflections or insights that can help me move forward with my own painting, or to better understand my own decision making.

There is also often a moment where I see someone rediscover a love for art that they forgot they had, where they start to believe that maybe they have more ability than they thought - or realise that their level of ability is actually not even the point! These experiences help reconnect me to my own passion for art in a time where as artists, we can get caught up in chasing sales, administration and bookkeeping or a thousand other distractions.

These experiences can be even more enjoyable when teaching a kids class. Young children are, by nature, highly creative, but often begin to lose this skill as they move into formal schooling. Giving them permission to express their ideas and apply their creativity without judgement is incredibly rewarding. A big, proud smile at the end of the class, particularly for a child that started off feeling uncertain, gives me energy and fuels the fire to keep creating and expressing my own ideas.

For these reasons, I will always continue to teach workshops and classes even if they become difficult to fit into my art practice.