I want to challenge notions of existence and create a new understanding by making a mark in life’s continuum. I want to create art with every breathing part of me. I want to inspire minds to create.
Letters to a Young Artist by Anna Deavere Smith is like a charging “kick in the ass” for me. Her words add more fuel to the fire inside me. Her letters to an imaginary artist named “BZ” can be read by anyone who has dreams to follow, but really speaks to me as both an aspiring artist and teacher.
Smith grabbed my attention with one of the very first letters entitled “Presence.” There is much to say about an artist and his or her presence. An actor who has presence can enchant his audience and draw its members “close” to his character, Smith explains. A dancer who has presence can bring an audience to tears of joy with her unforgettable adagio. Writers with presence leave lasting words in the minds of their readers. Smith says people with presence aren’t always artists; that presence can also be a type of charisma, some type of charm that you have that draws people’s attention to you. Smith describes her dog as having charisma, and a man who she observed kissing trees frequently “took [her] breath away” because he was so dedicated to it. Lauren Hutton, “too short to be a fashion model,” became the first supermodel because she had that ‘something’ that grabbed an editor’s attention. Beauty is not required for presence, and you cannot achieve presence simply by striving for attention.
Most striking to me, though, was when Smith says that being dedicated to who you are and what you do is one way that you may have presence. She also says “presence requires being aware. Presence requires paying attention…presence requires allowing others to make an impact on you.” If you want to be better at something, or if you want to achieve a certain professional or social goal, you have to immerse yourself in it—that book you want to write, that series of paintings you want to complete, that class you want to teach, that greeting card business you want to own. Whatever it is that you want to do, you must practice it, learn more about it, and do a lot of networking.
I am a grad student, teacher, and aspiring artist. I received my undergraduate degree in Art History. After I graduated, I worked full time in an upscale frame and fine art gallery, selling frames and designing frame and combinations. My bosses were very pretentious and licked the ground for many of the men or women who came into our gallery. My bosses were an upper middle class married couple that consisted of a Tampa-raised son of a well-known bank executive and a rail-thin German woman who sustained herself with espresso. They were former luxury car sales people who never stopped until they made a sale. I got into an argument with the husband that ended with me in tears a few months into my employment there. Why? Because I couldn’t make a sale to a man who didn’t want to spend 200-400 dollars just to frame a golf poster for his office. I didn’t feel the need to chase this man out into the parking lot after he simply said he didn’t want to spend that much to "slap something on [his] wall." My bosses are salesmen in an extravagant business in a trying economic time and need devoted salesmen to run their galleries. Sales are crucial to the survival of their business, after all.
I think I played the role of the salesperson quite well for a while, but I wasn’t really as dedicated as my bosses were. Sure, I sometimes have enough presence to charm even the grumpiest old lady, but I don’t think I had presence as a salesperson. I left after a year. With that experience, I became disillusioned about the art world--or at least the marketing aspect of it. I thought it too full of hollow, pompous people chasing the dollar, not the art. I decided I didn’t want to work as a salesperson.
What I did realize, though, is that in order to own any business, you have to practically be married to it. The owners of the frame gallery I worked at lived and breathed their business. They wanted to make the absolute best impression of their business to everyone they met. Despite their asshole boss tendencies, they were very charismatic. You may be really charmed if you find yourself in their galleries, maybe so charmed you’d spend 500 dollars on a Leger print with an Italian handmade frame. The owners need people in order to run their business, so their business is people. Their attentiveness to people makes them very good at selling. They have presence in their profession.
Before I received my degree I worked part time as a preschool teacher. I loved it. In fact, I’ve always enjoyed teaching, and during that gray area of unemployment after the gallery I decided to go in another direction for a while. I saw an opportunity to teach reading during the summer. I applied, got hired and trained, and worked rigorously. I taught 10-12 classes a week to students ages 4 to adult. I had my own classrooms of 4-40 students to teach a structured phonics, word study, or literature comprehension lesson in allotted time slots of one to two hours, one after the other. The classroom experience, the dynamic interaction of so many different age groups, the impact I did (or didn’t) have on a person’s understanding of a text or concept I found very thrilling. I returned the next summer to teach and now am getting my master’s degree in English Education. I found that teaching is something I could really devote myself to. So my new quest is to find out how much I can learn about teaching.
I think presence is very important in teaching. Smith has a couple of letters entitled “Teacher” and “Teacher II” in which she responds to BZ after she’s been informed that the young artist has gotten a job as an assistant art teacher. Smith’s gives great universal advice for teachers. For example, she recommends that as a teacher, you must decide the tone that you want to create for your class, and the relationship you want to create with your students (do you want to be your students’ friend or do you want to take on a more formal discourse, for example?). She also recommends becoming very involved in the atmosphere and the students, greeting every student by name, keeping the classroom organized and tidy, setting up your “stage” and “audience” that you are getting ready to command. Smith describes the classroom as the “garden” that you maintain: “The teacher is the landscape architect and will design the class.” A teacher thus must have presence in her classroom to get results.
Many of these tactics I have already put into play during my experiences as a teacher. I am currently working as a substitute teacher in my county. Much can be said about the substitute teacher the students don't walk all over the minute they come through the door! Presence can help you manage a classroom full of rowdy 6th graders who see you as an opportunity to try every bit of your patience for example. Presence, the dedication to running a strong foundation for learning and an organized atmosphere, can make you (and your students) thrive in a classroom setting.
My presence as an artist is developing still as well. I have many half-finished paintings that I ‘haven’t gotten around to’ and some ideas that haven’t manifested on canvas. I have many words that haven’t formed into sentences and stories and projects I haven’t marketed yet. Smith writes a letter about procrastination, and how it can be called “actively avoiding” things. Presence involves the opposite: actively moving towards a goal and having the discipline to create constantly and to keep your mind from wandering away from your tasks. I am in a constant struggle to keep reminding myself that if I don’t get my ‘voice’ out there, no one will hear it.
To sum up (because I really could go on and on this topic), Anna Deavere Smith’s Letters to a Young Artist reminded me that anything I strive for in life needs to be something I love. If I want something, I have to be it, and be surrounded by it. My journey to becoming a successful teacher and artist must include my presence.
Letters to a Young Artist by Anna Deavere Smith is like a charging “kick in the ass” for me. Her words add more fuel to the fire inside me. Her letters to an imaginary artist named “BZ” can be read by anyone who has dreams to follow, but really speaks to me as both an aspiring artist and teacher.
Smith grabbed my attention with one of the very first letters entitled “Presence.” There is much to say about an artist and his or her presence. An actor who has presence can enchant his audience and draw its members “close” to his character, Smith explains. A dancer who has presence can bring an audience to tears of joy with her unforgettable adagio. Writers with presence leave lasting words in the minds of their readers. Smith says people with presence aren’t always artists; that presence can also be a type of charisma, some type of charm that you have that draws people’s attention to you. Smith describes her dog as having charisma, and a man who she observed kissing trees frequently “took [her] breath away” because he was so dedicated to it. Lauren Hutton, “too short to be a fashion model,” became the first supermodel because she had that ‘something’ that grabbed an editor’s attention. Beauty is not required for presence, and you cannot achieve presence simply by striving for attention.
Most striking to me, though, was when Smith says that being dedicated to who you are and what you do is one way that you may have presence. She also says “presence requires being aware. Presence requires paying attention…presence requires allowing others to make an impact on you.” If you want to be better at something, or if you want to achieve a certain professional or social goal, you have to immerse yourself in it—that book you want to write, that series of paintings you want to complete, that class you want to teach, that greeting card business you want to own. Whatever it is that you want to do, you must practice it, learn more about it, and do a lot of networking.
I am a grad student, teacher, and aspiring artist. I received my undergraduate degree in Art History. After I graduated, I worked full time in an upscale frame and fine art gallery, selling frames and designing frame and combinations. My bosses were very pretentious and licked the ground for many of the men or women who came into our gallery. My bosses were an upper middle class married couple that consisted of a Tampa-raised son of a well-known bank executive and a rail-thin German woman who sustained herself with espresso. They were former luxury car sales people who never stopped until they made a sale. I got into an argument with the husband that ended with me in tears a few months into my employment there. Why? Because I couldn’t make a sale to a man who didn’t want to spend 200-400 dollars just to frame a golf poster for his office. I didn’t feel the need to chase this man out into the parking lot after he simply said he didn’t want to spend that much to "slap something on [his] wall." My bosses are salesmen in an extravagant business in a trying economic time and need devoted salesmen to run their galleries. Sales are crucial to the survival of their business, after all.
I think I played the role of the salesperson quite well for a while, but I wasn’t really as dedicated as my bosses were. Sure, I sometimes have enough presence to charm even the grumpiest old lady, but I don’t think I had presence as a salesperson. I left after a year. With that experience, I became disillusioned about the art world--or at least the marketing aspect of it. I thought it too full of hollow, pompous people chasing the dollar, not the art. I decided I didn’t want to work as a salesperson.
What I did realize, though, is that in order to own any business, you have to practically be married to it. The owners of the frame gallery I worked at lived and breathed their business. They wanted to make the absolute best impression of their business to everyone they met. Despite their asshole boss tendencies, they were very charismatic. You may be really charmed if you find yourself in their galleries, maybe so charmed you’d spend 500 dollars on a Leger print with an Italian handmade frame. The owners need people in order to run their business, so their business is people. Their attentiveness to people makes them very good at selling. They have presence in their profession.
Before I received my degree I worked part time as a preschool teacher. I loved it. In fact, I’ve always enjoyed teaching, and during that gray area of unemployment after the gallery I decided to go in another direction for a while. I saw an opportunity to teach reading during the summer. I applied, got hired and trained, and worked rigorously. I taught 10-12 classes a week to students ages 4 to adult. I had my own classrooms of 4-40 students to teach a structured phonics, word study, or literature comprehension lesson in allotted time slots of one to two hours, one after the other. The classroom experience, the dynamic interaction of so many different age groups, the impact I did (or didn’t) have on a person’s understanding of a text or concept I found very thrilling. I returned the next summer to teach and now am getting my master’s degree in English Education. I found that teaching is something I could really devote myself to. So my new quest is to find out how much I can learn about teaching.
I think presence is very important in teaching. Smith has a couple of letters entitled “Teacher” and “Teacher II” in which she responds to BZ after she’s been informed that the young artist has gotten a job as an assistant art teacher. Smith’s gives great universal advice for teachers. For example, she recommends that as a teacher, you must decide the tone that you want to create for your class, and the relationship you want to create with your students (do you want to be your students’ friend or do you want to take on a more formal discourse, for example?). She also recommends becoming very involved in the atmosphere and the students, greeting every student by name, keeping the classroom organized and tidy, setting up your “stage” and “audience” that you are getting ready to command. Smith describes the classroom as the “garden” that you maintain: “The teacher is the landscape architect and will design the class.” A teacher thus must have presence in her classroom to get results.
Many of these tactics I have already put into play during my experiences as a teacher. I am currently working as a substitute teacher in my county. Much can be said about the substitute teacher the students don't walk all over the minute they come through the door! Presence can help you manage a classroom full of rowdy 6th graders who see you as an opportunity to try every bit of your patience for example. Presence, the dedication to running a strong foundation for learning and an organized atmosphere, can make you (and your students) thrive in a classroom setting.
My presence as an artist is developing still as well. I have many half-finished paintings that I ‘haven’t gotten around to’ and some ideas that haven’t manifested on canvas. I have many words that haven’t formed into sentences and stories and projects I haven’t marketed yet. Smith writes a letter about procrastination, and how it can be called “actively avoiding” things. Presence involves the opposite: actively moving towards a goal and having the discipline to create constantly and to keep your mind from wandering away from your tasks. I am in a constant struggle to keep reminding myself that if I don’t get my ‘voice’ out there, no one will hear it.
To sum up (because I really could go on and on this topic), Anna Deavere Smith’s Letters to a Young Artist reminded me that anything I strive for in life needs to be something I love. If I want something, I have to be it, and be surrounded by it. My journey to becoming a successful teacher and artist must include my presence.
