I remind the children of Art of Conservation’s Code of Conduct for IN the classroom and OUTDOORS.

DISCOVER and OBSERVE – being two of them – are given special importance in today’s lesson.

A yellow square on the chalkboard. How does yellow make you feel? A student writes what emotions are conjured up.

The two color theory books I used years ago while taking a class at Parsons School of Design in NYC were Interaction of Color by Josef Albers and The Elements of Color by Itten.

Recently, going through boxes of my books in Des Moines, Iowa, I found these two books and threw them in my bags ready for Rwanda.

Back at home in Rwanda, I scoured through the Josef Albers book, finding it deeply resonating for me this time round, and developed our feeling color lesson through discovery and observation.

AoC art teacher, Eric Mutabazi, collects a bunch of flowers for today’s class on feeling color.

Eric asks students to pick one of the many brightly colored flowers and then asks them to explain why he or she chose that particular flower.

“First, is should be learned that one and the same color evokes innumerable readings.” Interaction of Color, Josef Albers.

“What counts here – first and last – is not so-called knowledge of so-called facts, but vision – seeing.” Interaction of Color, Josef Albers.

Students write their emotional responses to colors on the worksheet.

In the end, teaching is a matter not of method but of heart. Therefore, the most decisive factor is the teacher’s personality. His enthusiastic concern with the student’s growth counts more than how much he knows. It is well known that ‘the teacher is always right,’ but rarely does this fact elicit respect or sympathy, even less often does it prove competence and authority.

But the teacher actually is right and always will gain confidence when he admits that he does not know, that he cannot decide, and, as it often is with color, that he is unable to make a choice or to give advice.

Besides, good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers. Interaction of Color, Josef Albers.

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