Big Questions for the New School Year

Reflections from the TAB Institute

The best professional development, for me, has always been when I can experience learning from the perspective a student in my class might have. I spent last week at the TAB Insitute in Boston. Not as a student, actually, or even as a teacher, but I learned all the same. The studio sucked me in.

From the top left: Institute co-directors Jen Rankey-Zona & me, TAB president Jen Ferrari, TAB treasure Dawn Norris, Studio director Clyde Gaw, Institute faculty Stacey Parrish, Julie Toole and Clark Fralick, TAB founders Diane Jaquith and Kathy Douglas, TAB secretary Lauren Gould-Donahue and Institute faculty Jean Freer Barnett.

If you’re unfamiliar with the TAB Institute, it’s a week-long, intensive course dedicated to Teaching for Artistic Behavior philosophy and practice. Instructors are experienced, practicing TAB teachers. There are two strands of content, the classroom where participants learn through sharing and discussion, and the studio where participants are invited to both make art and share short art-making demonstrations for the group.

Studio demo in progress. Photo by Clyde Gaw.

I stopped by the studio the first night with the intent to just check it out. It was full of people working and stocked with beautiful materials. I saw some liquid watercolors on a table in the wet room that called to me, sat down, and picked up a brush (it was right there, how could I resist?). I came back every night and created.

I loved experimenting with liquid watercolors, which I'd never used, and rubbing alcohol

My work from the Institute at the closing show.

This space drew me in and kept me coming back - me, who never finds time to make art, me, who felt rusty and unsure. I’ve thought quite a bit about that creative pull, why it worked for me and how to make it happen for all my students.

Making art is hard. Having supplies prepared, labeled, and easy to locate and access makes it less so. Short demos with inviting materials that are there, ready to use are enticing and so is the creative energy of artists hard at work on their own, unique art. The welcoming, warm space filled with artists who cared for and supported one another drew me in. I was a hesitant student, and I couldn’t resist.

Stacey and Clyde during studio set up

Things to ponder these last few weeks of summer:

• How do we create studios with creative pull?

• How do we make sure all students have what they need to be successful?

• How do we build communities where all students feel welcome?

Thank you for reading!