Why I teach

I have just returned home from teaching a weekend workshop in Seattle, a 4 hour drive from Cascabel Press in Portland.  The time in the car driving home gave me time to reflect on the workshop, my students, and the reason I teach.  The conclusion I’ve arrived to is that I am my best self in my role as educator, I feel like it is what I am ment to do in a deeply personal way.

I am grateful to my students. Both here at Cascabel Press & off on location.  They arrive dreaming of a new way to express their artistic urge, eager to get to work.  I come to the session dreaming of their success and joy in achieving this goal.

I find great satisfaction in showing them the process through demonstration, then watching and guiding them on their journey to learn.  As I teach I find myself learning more about myself and my own work, I am in touch with all the personal reasons I am compelled to make prints and strive to move forward. I work to honestly share these feeling with my students.  I smile as they swoon over the prints they make knowing how they feel and watching as they fall in love with their work. The community feels good, all of us working together to make pictures.

I suggest that what I am wanting to say here is this; thank you.  Thank you to my students for your confidence and willingness to experiment and learn new things with me. Thank you to the institutions who organize the workshops and hire me to do my thing. Thank you to the artists to lend a hand to make the sessions great and fulfilling.  You all are important to me & a big part of what I love about this dream life I am living.

Be well,

Ray