Alex Powers
Alex Powers has been a painter and self-employed art teacher since 1970. He exhibits in galleries in six states, and among his many national juried exhibition awards is the Gold Medal at the 1997 American Watercolor Society Annual Exhibition.
A Few Words From Alex:
"I find learning to teach as difficult as learning to paint. At one time, like so many other teachers, I thought the perfect teaching format was: demo’ each morning, individual help during the middle of the day, and a critique at the end of the day. However, this format is based on the how-to-do-it demo’, which is not what students need. They need to find their own personal expression, and then find their personal how-to-do-it technique to deliver that expression / content.
For students who are not beginners, the way to find what they want to express is to have them bring work from home (originals, slides, computer lap-top images or photos). Being in the sometimes confusing process of searching for their personal style, students often don’t see in their own work what they are after. A teacher can clarify that for them by looking at this work from home. The student may like what they are expressing, want to change part of the expression, or change it entirely. After this is clarified, then it is time for their choice of technique, subject matter / image, design and art materials to deliver that expression. And, as Christopher Schink has said, “It is not right when it looks right. It is right when it feels right.”
But there is more. Slide programs, group critiques and other means, help students to realize what they think good art is – their aesthetic. We live in a good time for art. We are not constrained by the dogma of academic realism, nor the dogma of Abstract Expressionism. Postmodernism brings all styles into play without hierarchy.
It is a joy to see a student challenge himself or herself, and put this together in a personal way."
More information about Alex Powers is available on his website.