"Life imitates art far more than art imitates life." - Oscar Wilde

I would expect that from Oscar Wilde, author of A Portrait of Dorian Gray. It reminds me, though, that art can change us. Some works of art have what Native Americans call "medicine." They enter us deeply and become templates for change. As Rilke said in response to the Archaic Torso of Apollo, "You must change your life."

All this seems a bit nose-heavy for a playful activity like brushing pigment on paper or pressing a painted hand on the wall of a cave. Yet making or responding to art does change us, however subtly, and a timeless pause before one of Monet's huge water lily paintings can change forever the way we see the world.

It is with this in mind that I approach my students. There are a few rules, but not many. Mix primary colors to make secondary colors. Mix opposite colors to make brown (various shades of poop, as my students never fail to notice). And I have my preferences: fill up your space, don't try for perfect, experiment. Everything can be fixed. What will happen? I don't know. Will the painting have a life, and a voice? It will.