My Approach to Enameling, Learning, and Becoming an Artist

My Philosophy: How I Learn.

I believe that I learn by doing, not by watching. 
Learning is a change which occurs inside of me as a result of what I am doing and how I experience what I am doing.

A transformation occurs. I become immersed in my questions and observations. I pay attention to the feedback I receive as a result of what I do. I make changes to get closer to the results I desire. As I find what "works" get closer to these results consistently, I repeat and refine to develop "muscle-memory". In this way my learning becomes "internalized".

When my learning has become "internalized", I don't have to try to remember what someone said or showed me. I don't have to refer to a video tutorial.
What I know is now a part of me and can becomes accessible when I need it.

Physically, my brain is actually changing as I learn. Watching a video may excite me and cause a chemical reaction in my brain, but nothing has physically changed. It's just chemicals. The feelings will fade.
New research about our brains is reflected in the field of Neuroplasticity. Here is what researchers have found:

Meet Ricky Frank

 I never dreamed that I would become an artist.  I had no interest, no role models, and no "talent".  Art class, and even worse, music class, were the classes I dreaded the most in high school. I went to a college which didn't even have studio art classes and chose Psychology as a major because that way I would at least "learn how to learn" as I worked towards what I though would be a meaningless degree.
Now I find myself obsessed with how people learn and change. Upon graduating from college I discovered a passion for enameling and decided that I wanted to become an "artist". Since then, I've spent more than 42 years "teaching myself"  to become an artist.

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Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to adapt.
Or, as Dr. Campbell puts it:
“It refers to the physiological changes in the brain that happen as the result of our interactions with our environment. From the time the brain begins to develop in utero until the day we die, the connections among the cells in our brains reorganize in response to our changing needs. This dynamic process allows us to learn from and adapt to different experiences.” – Celeste Campbell (n.d.).

This is how I am thinking (how I am using my brain) as I'm learning and making enamels. I am interacting with the process (or as Dr. Campbell describes, the environment). This creates new connections within my brain. Just like a river will carve out a canyon over the years, repetition of thought and actions will create and strengthen new connections and my learning becomes "internalized". My experiences have literally changed my brain.

"Change is the end result of all true learning."
-Leo Buscaglia

Most enamel teachers and classes focus on techniques: the "how to do it" part of enameling.

This is a critical part of your enamel education, but it may ignore one very important thing. If you already have years of artistic experience you may be able to simply "plug and play" the new skills and information into your artistic vision and be off to the races.

Many students struggle with some of the different elements of enameling which are required to make meaningful enamel artwork. I know this because when I started to enamel I had ZERO art experience. I was a complete novice. I struggled too, and still do. This is a pat of the process.
I've found that many students struggle with....

• being patient as they learn a new skill
  
• letting go of what they believe are the "rules"
• learning through "play and experimentation"
• giving themselves permission to fail
• expectations that they should be better than they are
• making "sketches" to work out issues during the early stages
• knowing why they are making something
• the design, creativity, and expressive aspect of their enameling
• critiquing what they are making
• moving into and being willing to embrace the "unknown"
• finding and trusting their "gut"

Exploring how you "think" is the key.

When students ask me questions, I almost always give them the same answer, no matter what the question is. This is because there are so many variables to consider when answering any question they might have. This is especially true  because enameling is combines principles of  Science and Art.

Here is the "one right answer" I give to all my students:
IT DEPENDS"!
Why is this always the appropriate answer? Because I need to consider all of the variables:

• What I want
• What I know
• What I can do
• What the materials want to do
• What I can observe
• What is possible

I want to help you learn to ask and answer for yourself, "What does it depend on?".
This  is my main teaching goal.
This is true about both  technical and artistic considerations. Can you imagine an artist you admire not being able to ask answer these questions for themselves and relying on sometone to tell them the "Right Answer"? Pretty ridiculous, isn' it?

When you can begin to do this for yourself, you are on the path to being able to become your own guide and coach, which is what you will need to be when you have left the classroom and are on your own.

"You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over."
-Richard Branson

Become a "Self-Directed" Learner

All art is a form of self-directed learning!

What does an artist do? They teach themselves to make the image they imagine. Each new work of art is a learning experience. Who teaches an artist to view the world from their distinct perspective or to respond to how their media changes as the work is in process?
This comes from inside. It emerges from inside.

The good news is that this is a skill. Artists are not born as "artists", though many people believe  this is what happens, and that you are either born with talent or you are no. Artists have developed the visible skill of mastering techniques, tools and materials.  But they have also developed (learned) the inner skills which helps them use what they know to make their art work personal and meaningful.

Actually you were born with this skill. Nobody explained to you "how to walk". Your parents didn't show you videos or sign you up for a class. You wanted to move and you tried different things until you got it right. You fell over many times  and you sometimes needed to hold onto something for support. This is how we learn anything. And as you began to feel more confident being upright and balanced, you challenged yourself to improve. You ran, you skipped, you jumped, and you danced. And then sadly (if you were like me), you began to believe that there was a "good or right way" to dance. You may have had a similar experience as a young artist. You would play and experiment joyfully until you discovered that it was important to be "good at it". How do you think that belief affected you. I know how it affected me; I stopped because "I wasn't any good". Luckily I learned many years  later that I could challenge this belief system and make something I loved.  You can too!