Why Teaching Is My Creative Superpower (and Why I’ll Never Stop)
People often ask me:
“Do you ever worry that teaching takes time away from your art?”
My answer is always the same:
Teaching doesn’t take me away from art.
Teaching brings me back to art.
It took me years to understand this—
but my greatest artistic breakthroughs didn't just happen in the studio.
They happened in the classroom.
Let me explain.
The Myth: Artists Create, Teachers Instruct
There’s a widespread belief that you’re either:
an artist who makes,
or a teacher who explains.
I’ve lived on both sides, and I can tell you:
This division is a lie.
Teaching is not separate from making.
Teaching is an act of creation.
It is improvisation. Problem-solving. Vision. Energy. Presence.
A good art class is a living artwork.
Teaching Forces Me to Stay Awake
When I teach, I can’t run on autopilot.
I can’t rely on old tricks or outdated ideas.
I have to stay curious. I have to keep learning. I have to stay alive.
Students ask questions that cut straight to the soul:
“What makes this mark necessary?”
“How do you know when something’s finished?”
“What if I’m scared to try?”
And in answering them…
I end up answering myself.
Teaching Makes Me Braver
I constantly tell my students:
Take the risk.
Make the bad version.
Lean into the unknown.
Let the work lead you.
Get lost on purpose.
One day I realized…
If I’m asking them to live this way—
I have to live this way too.
Teaching holds me accountable to my own integrity as an artist.
My Studio and Classroom Are One Loop
Here’s the truth I’ve finally claimed:
TEACHING AND MAKING ARE ONE CONTINUOUS LOOP.
THE CLASSROOM FEEDS THE STUDIO, AND THE STUDIO FUELS THE CLASSROOM.
When I discover something in my work, I bring it to my students.
When they discover something in themselves, I bring it back to the studio.
It’s a constant cycle of idea, risk, reflection, evolution.
I don’t just teach technique.
I teach vulnerability.
I teach vision.
I teach becoming.
And every time I guide a student through fear into breakthrough…
…I remember how to guide myself.
Students Keep Me Honest
Students don’t care about reputation.
They don’t care about art world politics.
They care about whether the work is real.
They have the best bullshit detectors on Earth.
If I present something safe or shallow, they feel it immediately.
Teaching forces me to stay authentic, to stay hungry, to stay human.
Teaching Is Not a Detour. It’s My Engine.
Looking back, I can see it clearly:
My most experimental projects began as class demos.
My biggest conceptual shifts started as student conversations.
My current body of work is a direct result of questions I asked alongside my students.
Teaching didn’t slow my evolution—it accelerated it.
Why I’ll Never Stop
Because I believe artists are not meant to create in isolation.
We are meant to:
Share process.
Build community.
Pass the torch.
Invent new torches.
And sometimes, the clearest mirror of who we are becoming…
is the light we spark in someone else.
Final Truth
Teaching is not the thing that keeps me from being an artist.
Teaching is the thing that keeps me becoming one.
And as long as I teach, I will never be done growing.
“Developed through a collaborative process between the artist and AI (ChatGPT), then refined through personal editing and intuition.”