Vision Part 14 Mentors

The mediocre teacher tells.  The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.  The great teacher inspires.
William Arthur Ward
1 - Can Anyone Be An Artist?
If anyone could be Monet, or Picasso, or Dali, or Adams, or Weston, or whoever your favorite artist is, wouldn’t that make these artists commonplace?  Wouldn’t it make their contribution, their achievements, their oeuvre in short, meaningless? Would it make them like the rest of us and would they lose their aura?
In other words is art the function of a personal disposition and of intangible elements that cannot be taught, or is art the result of a fruitful environment?  For me the answer is art is the outcome of both.  However, of the two, provided that one has an interest in the arts and the desire to make art, it is living in a fruitful environment that is the most important.
After teaching for over 20 years I heard story after story of dashed dreams and lost hopes from students who were discouraged to practice art, l...