sweet

I have the privilege of working with a class of eleven and twelve year olds as their "artist in residence". It's been an interesting journey for me-- trying to inspire heartfelt creativity, all the while fully aware that creativity is not something that can be manufactured. It's not as simple as, "Take child, add drawing lesson, see child make art." So I listen a lot, and try to show the students the beauty of their world, try to get them to tune their eyes to the art of life, and I try to give them tools with which they can both explore and express their vision of the world. Some eagerly grasp every tool I hand them, others clasp their arms across their chests in resistance, and others just baffle me.

We're working on a big final project right now and it involves doing one-on-one consults with each student. It's been great to see how the students have taken what they've learned about the art of seeing and put together presentations of amazing concepts with both text and visual components. In most cases, they've followed instructions about their "field notes" and reflections, done "mind maps", and applied the art lessons judiciously to come up with their final project. And then there's the guy who could be the Baffle poster child. He's the one who showed little sign of paying attention in class over the past few months, the one who didn't finish the preparatory exercises, the one who seemed incapable of filling in the blanks on the most open-ended "idea organizer" going. And his final project is amazing. During the one-on-one consult yesterday, I felt compelled to tell him that even though he didn't complete any of the assignments leading up to the final project, there was clear evidence in his presentation that he grasped every aspect of the preparatory exercises and the result was top notch. I think this shocked him. I'm pretty sure that as a kid who doesn't generally follow the rules and is therefore, generally, in trouble, being given credit in spite of breaking the rules is a rare thing indeed.

Most of the time, there's no way to know what effect your words have had on a person. You can offer a compliment but it might end up being deflected off the shield of a wounded heart. Or, you can speak words of encouragement but they won't be heard over the inner din of self-defeating thinking. But you carry on giving compliments and encouragement in the hope that sometimes the words will hit home. I found out today that my comment yesterday hit home. My Baffle poster child was so proud that he told his mom, and his mom was so proud that she told his teacher, and his teacher was so proud that she told me. In the words of my cool-dude-twelve-year-old-break-the-rules-artist-extraordinaire, "Sweet!"