"What do I want my students to remember as they enter life after art? I want them to remember all the things I forgot."
Life after Art, Introduction
A good teacher understands the value of the right question and Matt Appling is a good teacher. He works with students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, but in his new book Life after Art, Matt poses questions we adults should be asking each other-
...what does the world (creation) say about God (the Creator)?
What does your work say about you?
What would I like my life to mean when it is over?
And the question that drives Matt as a teacher-
What can I do to make my work better?
Beginning with the premise that all children are artists, Matt posits that the challenge is staying an artist. Filled with quotable nuggets like- "We are compelled to create" and "A little bit of beauty can change everything," Life after Art is a timely reminder that 'growing up' doesn't have to mean 'growing old,' a reminder that Jesus' words to a group of confused adults- "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven" are still being spoken today. I've been chewing on those words for years.
Life after Art is for the CEO, the homemaker, and it is for me, a fellow teacher who sometimes forgets to become like a child.
Life after Art is for the CEO, the homemaker, and it is for me, a fellow teacher who sometimes forgets to become like a child.
A few of the people Matt describes in Life after Art
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