According to potter Mel Jacobson, truth and trust outweigh curriculum when teaching a student art.
At 70, Jacobson is one of the country's most famous potters. He studied art in Japan, taught art in public schools for many years and still found time to write a few books.
Jacobson was at UNM on Tuesday for a pottery demonstration and lecture as part of the ASUNM Holiday Crafts Fair.
Jacobson makes his wooden pottery tools out of bamboo. For the rest of his tools, he uses everyday materials like coat hangers, fishing line, mattress foam, erasers and needles. He says he prefers these homemade tools to store-bought ones.
Jacobson said artists should make just as much money as lawyers or doctors.
He said people generally think if you love what you're doing, it shouldn't be about the money. But he disagrees.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"If you're going to become an art teacher, get paid to do it," he said.
Jacobson still teaches and insists on calling his students artists or young potters.
To lose control, he said, would be the worst possible situation in a class. Physical size and appearance have little to do with one's ability to keep a classroom controlled. He said it's all in the eyes.
Jacobson said, aside from trust, control is important when teaching art.
"We're on a plane," he said. "And I'm the pilot."
While teaching in public schools he said he was doing more than just showing kids how to make pots.
"I wasn't producing potters," he said. "I was getting kids to understand passion."
He said he had success with a student named Ian Edwards.
Edwards was about to drop out of high school and had stopped showing up to class. Jacobson, who was his art teacher at the time, came to his house one morning and woke him up for school.
Eventually, he helped Edwards get into college. The once-apathetic student is now director of an art museum in Chicago.
