The Artist's Way

Craziest thing. I went in to interview at a private Christian school in Manhattan this morning for a Fall elementary teaching position, and now I'm being considered for the art teacher position. Next Monday I'm scheduled to teach a demonstration art lesson to a third grade classroom. I am very excited about the possibility of this! The position is only part-time, but I would have the flexibility for a second job. The school knows that I have had no formal training in art. The art teacher they currently employ is an artist with no training in education. So this could be a flip-flop in the current situation. I won't explain all the details of how this came about, but it was pretty interesting.

One of the highlights of my move to New York has been The Artist's Way. I’ll try to summarize what this is, though it won’t be a perfect summary. Basically, The Artist’s Way is a book/workbook that is to help artists (i.e. visual artists, writers, actors, musicians, etc...) who are blocked in their creativity, for people who are interested in art but have not explored it, or for people (such as businessmen, whatever...) who would like to be more creative in their lives and businesses. The author comes from the perspective that we are created by God, The Great Creator, and He has made us creative beings. Unfortunately, many people need help to recover their creativity. I am attending an Artist's Way meeting of ten people on Tuesday nights where we discuss the book and the exercises given in the book. The book is not written only for Christians to go through, but because everyone in my meeting are Christians we really get to discuss these things from a biblical perspective and pray together. Three of the people at the meeting (including the group leader) attend my church. I am very excited about this, as well!

Just yesterday I was walking in Manhattan and saw an art store, so I bought some supplies to try some watercolor painting, which I had been thinking about lately. Today I am a candidate to teach art at a private school. Who knows what will happen? I am on Cloud Nine right now about the possibilities (and a little nervous, too). I tend to be skeptical and question if things I see as good things are really blessings from the Lord. Throughout this entire experience of moving to New York, I am starting to see that God really does have good things to give us. Maybe things won't all work out like I want, but God has been good and kind to me. He continues to be. I hope I am learning.