Saturday 14 June 2014

Letter to an unknown art teacher

At the afore mentioned Creative Writing class we were asked to write a letter, just a paragraph, to someone in our past. I chose to write my letter to an art teacher who only taught me for about a year at secondary school and whose name sadly I can't remember. All I know is he had quite a marked effect on my way of thinking. Here's my letter:


Dear Sir,
As a curious, but accepting of the world order, twelve year old you challenged me not only to think about art, but to think about life and the collective beliefs of society. That must be one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. Yes it's true that I had thoughts and questions before but you helped me to re-order my thinking, my perspective, my outlook. Life was never the same again after your art classes. You sowed the seeds for me to be, at least in a creative way, the person that I am today. I can no longer remember your name, sadly, but your influence lives on. I have a lot to thank you for; my atheism, my willingness to challenge accepted norms and my open approach to creativity. Little could you have known what fruit those discussions would bear, or could you? Perhaps you did, as after all it was the 1960s
Yours gratefully,
Paul.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a good man, and great teacher, even if you can't remember his name.

    I'm sure he'd be proud of the influence he's had on you, even if you can't put a name to the face.

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  2. He was very influential. The fact that it was the sixties helped as they were exciting times when so many ideas were in the air.

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