The Art Teacher Syndrome

There is an epidemic spreading across the creative world. I like to refer to it as "THE ART TEACHER SYNDROME." Teachers being absorbed solely with the creativity they share with their students, and neglecting their own art.

I am guilty. At first, it starts out of necessity, spending endless hours developing your unique curriculum and setting the tone to your classroom environment. All the while, you are optimistically thinking in the back of your mind, "I'll get back to it when things settle down." Then, you begin to figure out this teacher gig and decide it's time to set the bar higher. So you do. You spend nights and weekends creating displays of students' artwork, developing sets and bulletin boards, and creating random "things" for sometimes ungrateful staff members. Eventually, this begins to wear on you and you get a little bitter because you feel taken advantage of . So you stop, and realize you can't remember the last time you created anything for the pure authentic joy of creating. Finally, you sit down at your easel and you are lost... lost in fear, lost in self-doubt, and lost in who you really are. So, you don't do it again, because you feel like a fake and a phony. And you sink back into the art teacher routine.

I feel like I've hidden behind the title of art teacher. I've chosen to live a small, comfy, cozy life. It's not really a bad place, it's very safe. But, not having a personal creative habit is not fulfilling or authentic.

In the fight to eradicate ATS (Art Teacher Syndrome), I'm challenging myself to establish a creative habit by creating 3 days a week and documenting it here on "filling in the gap."