As much as I want to get right to the point, I'm unearthing everything as I am inspired, and this morning I am inspired by David Deida to talk about The Best Teacher I Have Ever Had. His name is Fred Lipp, and we affectionately called him Fritz.
First, the Deida quote that inspired me from The Way of the Superior Man: The Teaching Sessions
(Audio)...it's impossible to tell someone how to paint a Masterpiece. You can tell them how to combine colors, how to follow the numbers, connect the dots, how to draw outlines, shading, perspective - but in the end it's their Masterpiece.
It's so true, and it reminded me of my freshman year at RIT in Rochester
I don't remember much after Montessori, but RIT rekindled my creative passion with , ala core training in the foundations of Art. The main classes were Drawing, 2-D and 3-D Design, along with a class in Creative Sources, and some humanities classes like English and Philosophy... which, along with talking to Fritz, led me to become a Philosophy Major at UW Madison.
There was a $500 fee for all new Art students in the Foundations track. Before classes started we stood in a ridiculously long line to pick up an unmanageable amount of Art supplies. A tacklebox full of every imaginable media and the paper to use it on. Everything from charcoal to cray-pas, pencils, paints and guache... which I still haven't figured out how to use!
The first day of Drawing class I met the most wonderful teacher I've ever had. He was very unassuming, but over the course of the year, I learned more from him than any other teacher in any other subject. The best teachers are always that way, aren't they?
My best advice for college students is to find one or two of those teachers and take EVERY class they offer. The rest will sort itself out.
Fritz and I used to get into some deep philosophical discussions. Deep for my 18 year old brain, anyway. As we joked about the 16 year long day-care system known as "schooling" he told me a most ingenious idea for college admissions.
"If I had a school I would have ONE entrance requirement: That each students had lived on their own, supporting themselves without any financial assistance, for one year. Then, if they wanted to come to my school, I'd say great!"
That's brilliant. But what was even more brilliant was his teaching style, and this is what Deida's quote inspired me to write about. This is at the crux of the Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education.
The first day of class about 22 of us sat at drawing tables that formed a large circle facing the "stage" area where models and still-lifes would eventually stand. Fritz told us to take out a piece of paper, and any implement. It took a minute, but eventually we all got the point that there were no restrictions on which implement or which type of paper to use. Then he gave a series of instructions that absolutely blew me away:
1.) Draw a line - you can only imagine there were at least 22 different variations of a simple line drawn in the room at that moment.
2.) Draw a Horizontal Line
3.) Draw a Vertical Line
4.) Draw a line that goes from light to heavy/dark
5.) Do the opposite
6.) And on, and on, and on with every permutation of line that could be drawn...
7.) Change media
Essentially, what Fritz was doing was putting us all in Beginner's Mind. He had no idea where we were at with our Drawing skills. I, for one, had a background in 2-D art (computer & graphic design). So, he needed to make sure we all had a broad spectrum understanding of all the media at our disposal. What better way to get acquainted than to systematically exhaust all the parameters possible in the most basic of exercises - line drawings.
Of course, things got more elaborate in the subsequent classes. Fritz, holding to the philosophy of self-reliance, rather than force feeding us examples and instructions on how to do things, ran us through weeks of exercises focusing on every imaginable aspect of drawing. He had us spend an entire day just exploring the concepts of:
1.) Shape - he pointed at the still-life and said, "Draw Shape"
2.) Form - any tool we wanted, "Draw Form"
3.) Space & Perspective
4.) Negative Space - which was a neat exercise in mental agility
5.) Shading... and on, and on...
Here's where things got REALLY interesting.
Fritz gave us ZERO homework. He graded nothing. The way we got better was learning through practice, experimentation, and group feedback.
At the end of each 3-hour session (we had 3 each week) he would have everyone select their Best work. Their BEST example of Shape, or Form...
We would post them in a series across the main wall of the studio, then all huddle up and go through them one by one. We each had a chance to hear anonymous feedback, then to talk personally about our piece. We saw what was and was not working in our own, and our classmates' drawings. It was perfect.
"None of us is as smart as All of Us!"
And that lesson has stuck with me to this day. As I set out to lead the Internship program at work, as I raise my daughter, as I seek learning experiences for myself... this lesson in practicing the fundamentals, mentoring and peer-review, seeking creative solutions, rather than merely imitating or copying... all these are at the forefront of my mind.
If the word Educate means: to draw forth from within, then I truly believe Fritz is among the best educators in the world.
The Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education does not aim to teach you or your child how to create a Masterpiece of yourself or your life. What it does aim to teach are the fundamentals of self-knowledge, relationship and systems dynamics. By practicing the fundamentals, finding good mentors and peer groups that are engaged in a similar aim, and seeking creative solutions to the systemic challenges we face in our lives and in our world today, I believe that we truly can create an Educational method that will consistently and predictably enlighten, and ultimately Enlighten, a critical mass of consciousness in our lifetime.
If you feel called to this project, please contact me by entering your name and email above, or by joining the Enlightened Child facebook group here: Join Enlightened Child Group on Facebook
Posts
