Hello Everyone!
Welcome back! Are you ready for lesson three? This is something that I am still learning and probably will continue to learn.
Life Lesson 3 - Just Be You and Find Your Niche
When I started teaching in 2015, there were drawing and painting classes, but there were no colored pencil classes that I knew of in my area. You have no idea how many people suggested I teach something else besides or instead of colored pencils. Colored pencil was a niche medium, and many people did not treat it as a fine art medium. It was an uphill battle from the very beginning. Here I am, a no-name artist trying to teach a medium that not many people take seriously.
Needless to say, this made me a little anxious, and I felt like a fool for not taking their advice seriously. So when I had an opportunity to teach summer camps the first year, I stretched my comfort zone, taught other things I knew, and helped another summer camp program held at the Art House. I had a decent turnout of students, but I found myself struggling to teach. It's not that I didn't know enough about the topics - I was fully capable of teaching, but I was exhausted by the end of class and didn't feel the same passion I felt with colored pencils. On the weekend, I taught my colored pencil class and felt my passion coming back: I was in a flow, enjoying the time with my students and loving every bit of it.
The sharp contrast I felt between teaching these classes led me to focus exclusively on teaching colored pencils. I have found my niche and chose to stick by it! Instead of other media, I started having subject-specific workshops and summer camps. My student base began growing through word of mouth, local art events, social media, and my website.
I started to add more classes, and in mid-2016, I reached the point where I could no longer add any more classes at the Art House and had many students on a waiting list. I wasn't ready for this growth—it was getting too much to handle. After some brainstorming, only one solution made sense to me: to get my own studio!
Here I am, 10 years later, looking back on days when I second-guessed my decision to go with what I was most passionate about and create my niche. I am glad I didn't choose to go the mainstream path and instead carved out my own. Through my classes, many students joined and moved on - some received awards and recognitions from contests and art shows at local, regional, and state levels, and some found the calling to pursue art professionally. I can honestly say that everyone who entered my classroom left the classroom a better artist than they were before.
Passion is contagious. When we are passionate, people are drawn to that passion like a magnet. What's interesting about it is that we attract those who are receptive to the passion we are feeling and nurturing. We create an oasis where our passions can grow and thrive in a safe and productive environment. Eventually, we feed off each other's passion and create a super creative environment. This is why some students feel working on their projects while attending classes is not the same as when they work on them at home. Through 10 years of teaching, I've had students traveling far to get to my weekly classes, some from as far as Oklahoma and Arkansas! The power we all can initiate through pursuing our passion is very powerful.
So, whatever you are passionate about, be unapologetic about expressing it - allow your passion to find your niche. Don't let other people who don't know how to handle your passion bring you down. If this is something no one else has done, create your own! Be the brave first one to start the trend. Remember, you are the only person who can express your creativity and passion in the way you do. Don't be afraid to show your uniqueness.
Stay tuned for lesson 4!
Noriko
Comments