nonsite

There can be many qualities that make teachers great, but I think the most important is an ability to listen. I just had an excellent tutorial with Andy Stiff. He is at Camberwell in London and I’m here in Vancouver. We did this through an online chat- typing fast. Andy has the right set of qualities that distinguish him as a great teacher- he has that ability to listen, he is also curious and he has good instincts and ideas based on his knowledge of contemporary art.

As a student you need to respect your teachers, and you obviously respect some more than others. At NSCAD in the mid 1970s, there were a number of great teachers: Garry Kennedy, Eric Fischl, Mira Shor, Terry Johnson, but Richards Jarden was the teacher whose thoughts and insights I valued the most. It could have been a number of things: his age in relation to mine- he was probably 5 years older; the work he was making- it was smart; but I think it was mostly his intellegence, his curiosity and the way he was willing to listen. I remember he left Halifax in the late 1970s and went on to teach at RISD. I lost track of him in the 80s but what a great teacher he was for many students at NSCAD.