Thread: Atelier article
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Old 01-20-2003, 12:27 AM   #3
Steven Sweeney Steven Sweeney is offline
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We should all have such a dilemma, Mari.

I would like to take the easy out and say, all other things being equal, go to the teacher to whose work you are mostly strongly drawn.

But there's no necessary connection between being a great teacher and being a great artist, any more than the best of editors is necessarily a great novelist.

And I'm finding that many prospective applicants are making their decisions on the basis of something as intangible as personal chemistry. "Is this a teacher with whom I want to have personal and professional contact every day for the next three or four years?" is not a silly question. We do hear stories from students who claim to have been classically molded by imperious curmudgeons, but -- speaking only for myself -- my life was too short for that nonsense by the time I settled into this vocation, and drawing and painting, though a serious pursuit, wasn't worth groveling.

I wonder if either of your prospects will put you in touch with former students, so that you might gather their input. (Be forewarned, the very request may be capital-I insult to some teachers. [Though there, I submit, would be your answer!])

To have both those mentioned options open to you is a surfeit of blessings.
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