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: the change occurs with the artwork I am making or the task I am performing, as well as inside of me.
I become immersed in my questions and observations. I pay attention to the feedback I receive as a result of what I do and make changes to achieve the results I desire. As I find what "works" to achieve these results consistently I repeat and refine to develop "muscle-memory". In this way my learning becomes INTERNALIZED and I can draw upon what I have learned and use this knowledge to create and solve problems.

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. The learning comes as a result of what I've done with the words or visual images I see when I DO something. The more ways I can internalize this feedback the deeper it will be learned  and accessible.

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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What is really cool is that my brain is actually changing as I am learning. 
Watching something (like a video) may cause me to feel excited and chemical reactions will occur, but these do not last. They are momentary. But when I DO something the brain changes; new connections are being made and these physical changes which will strengthen as the neurological changes occur because I am immersed in my experience. I am watching and feeling my tools and materials, asking myself questions, exploring different ways or ideas, and having emotional responses to my actions and the results of my actions. These experiences are what causes my brain to change; to literally develop new connections which become reinforced and strengthened through repetition.

"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.

However, 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!