Hi, I’m Adam. I’m an Art teacher and Enrichment Coordinator. I’ve worked at the college now for 9 years as a teacher.
Describe yourself in 3 words!
Open-minded. Intuitive. Patient.
Where and when did your passion for your subject begin?
I always enjoyed drawing as a child and at school. I found I was better at art than my other subjects, so I tended to spend most of my time doing it. It was later that I got into looking at other artists’ work. I grew up in Lincolnshire so wasn’t surrounded by lots of galleries, but seeing exhibition catalogues in school for shows like Sensation at the RA, a large exhibition of YBA art in the late 90s, and Apocalypse in the early 2000s, was very exciting and a gateway to another world.
Which part of the subject interests you most?
Making art always surprises you. Working on a project or with a process where the destination is unknown and where the outcome is unpredictable is always exciting, if slightly daunting too.
What’s the best part of teaching? And the worst?
Every day is different teaching art. No two student projects are ever exactly the same. There are always new ways of making something and new artists to look at. The musician and artist Brian Eno says, ‘children learn through play, but adults play through art’. I enjoy that in art learning happens through play and experimentation, it keep things enjoyable. The worst part of teaching is students occasionally trying to skip enrichment activities. (This doesn’t happen very often!).
Why teach at Brampton?
There’s a lot of freedom afforded us with regards what we do and how we do it. We’re trusted as teachers to get on with it, and that enables us to bring the best out of the students.
What have you learnt from your students?
Approaches to work that successful students demonstrate such as taking creative risks, embracing chance and the possibility of failure, trying unfamiliar ways of working with new materials, not worrying about outcomes or expectations, I wasn’t doing myself in my own work for a long time. I’ve tried to change this.
Tell us something your students would be surprised to find out about you?
I have ‘sung’ on a stage. As a lost and misguided teenager, I became part of a youth drama group without ever having displayed any theatrical talent. The list of embarrassing ‘performances’ I was part of is too extensive to go into here. It makes me cringe even now. There should have been early parental intervention, but it never came.
What’s your party trick?
I can juggle quite well. It was always a toss up between teaching and the circus, but it turns out there’s often substantial crossover.
If you could have dinner with any person who ever lived, who would it be and why?
If they’re cooking, the great French chef Pierre Kauffman.
If you were the richest person in the world for one day, what would you spend your money on?
Part of the garden fence has been knocked down by the cats, so I’d sort that. I’d get a couple of new sweatshirts to replace my tatty ones, then set up a philanthropic foundation.
What’s your favourite book and why?
I feel like I only get time to read kids’ books to my toddler. Brampton English teacher and Head of Learning Support Jo Young recommended Jon Klassen’s books to me, which are all excellent and very funny. This Is Not My Hat is my favourite, a book about a small fish who brazenly attempts to steal a much larger fish’s hat. The illustrations are brilliantly one step ahead of the dialogue, and the way the characters eyes are drawn says so much. I thoroughly recommend having a child so you can read it.
What’s your favourite joke?
I can never remember jokes. This is a good Tim Vine joke though. I said to the gym instructor, ‘Can you teach me the splits?’ He said, ‘How flexible are you?’ I said, ‘I can’t make Tuesdays’.
What’s on your bucket list?
I’d like to visit Japan, and fix the fence.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
A guilty pleasure is Baz Luhrmann’s 1999 song Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen). It’s really corny, but packed with great advice. I’ve always remembered the line, ‘Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and in the end, it’s only with yourself.’
What single piece of advice would you give to students?
Don’t get fixated on grades. Only focus on the process, don’t stress about the outcome.
