From the Introduction [ page 3 ]

Without question, the teacher of visual arts embarks on a journey of great challenge, reward, and responsibility. And the teacher of drawing in particular facilitates a fundamental exploration that functions as a bridge between many different visual disciplines. In the preface to his book, Drawing (1967), the late Daniel M. Mendelowitz of Stanford University wrote most eloquently about the role of drawing in educating today's artists. Although written 35 years ago, much of what he said remains relevant today:

"Drawing has reappeared as one of the cornerstones of art training...one that incorporates the attitudes and concepts of the Bauhaus and the inner discipline of modern painting with the meaningful aspects of tradition. Now most colleges, universities, and professional art schools, like the academies of the past, again commence the artist's training with drawing, and while much latitude prevails as to the content and procedures in today's drawing classes, certain convictions seem widely shared. First it is generally agreed that, well taught, drawing establishes a habit that is fundamental to expression in the visual arts, the habit of looking, seeing, and expressing one's perceptions in graphic, painterly, or plastic form. Second, drawing familiarizes the beginner with certain elements of the artist's vocabulary - line, value, texture, form, space - and also color, for even when drawing is limited to black and white, an increased consciousness of color often accompanies the greater awareness of the external world that is experienced when individuals commence to draw...In the final analysis it is the more incisive awareness of the concrete, visual world that is the artist's most precious heritage, and it is stimulated more by drawing than by any other activity.

Whether...a professional artist, a student with professional ambitions, or an alert, uncommitted observer with a lively interest in the arts, it is the total engagement of mind with eyes, hands, body, and feelings that will make possible drawing as a genuinely creative act and bring about the taste and judgment essential to artistic growth and enlightened connoisseurship."

Whether you are a graduate student who has been awarded a teaching assistantship, a newly hired faculty member just embarking on your teaching career, or an experienced teacher seeking validation and affirmation, The Art of Teaching Art is an invaluable resource. It is the culmination of over twenty years of full-time teaching experience and represents my love for teaching and my desire to assist others who recognize the challenges, the rewards, and the responsibility involved in choosing to be an art educator.