Great artists make personal work. No two people have the same story to tell, so I encourage my students to consider their identities carefully. What makes a person unique? What experiences, loves, conflicts, traumas, and relationships contribute to a person’s identity? Some artists spend their entire careers thinking about a particular place that is personal to their narrative. To successfully draw from personal experience, one must be willing to be vulnerable. I explain to my students that viewers do not judge artists for the baggage they share but rather create a strong emotional connection to the art by finding commonality with shared conflicts. We can see evidence of this investigation of identity in Baylie’s work.

Great artists carve out space for play in their creative process. In my conversation with William Kentridge, he described his attempt to separate “artist as creator” from “artist as critic." He asks “artist as creator” to approach the work with no preconception, free to explore mark-making instinctually. Only after a period of uninhibited play (something akin to a large-scale form of doodling) does he step back and ask the “artist as critic” to judge what is or isn’t working in the piece. The process of play allows the artist to access a level of subconscious creativity that can otherwise be difficult to achieve. For great artists, nothing is too sacred. There has to be room to revise ideas and experiment with materials at the expense of comfort. I encourage risk-taking by encouraging my students to take high-quality photographs throughout the development of their pieces. If the student goes a step too far, I can print a high-quality version of the piece from before the wrong turn. The student can then try again. Sometimes, the student prefers to push boundaries on top of a high-quality print instead of continuing to push boundaries on the original artwork. Either way, the goal is to venture into uncharted territory.

Students like Baylie are willing to challenge themselves in every class and are open to change. Like my very best portfolio students, her materials, techniques, and artistic vision continued to evolve. We couldn’t have foreseen the beauty of the end product at the beginning of the process. Such is the description of a life well lived.

Because of the supportive, collaborative community created by Mr. Gould and our art teaching team, the Keller High arts programs are thriving. It all starts with building relationships and creating a safe space for students to allow their creativity to flow. Our educators capture students early in high school to instill a strong desire to continue down the visual arts pathway, taking advanced courses. This environment builds self-confidence and provides a place where failing or making a mistake is an opportunity to create something new. Our art teachers are all artists and do a great job using their passion for the arts to produce multiple avenues for students to develop and use their unique talents to grow as individuals and artists.

From a leadership standpoint, ensuring our arts programs are funded and providing opportunities for students to showcase their work on campus and in our community is critical to continued success.

I am incredibly proud of Baylie. Her growth as a student and her artistic abilities certainly set her apart, and I am grateful for Mr. Gould and his ability to provide a space where students are free to create and collaborate!