Khanh Tran, sculpture teacher, graduated from Douglas Anderson as a Visual Arts (drawing and painting) Major

The Artisan: How would you say your students and their art influence you?

Tran: A lot of them are very creative young artists, and I think I feed off of their energy as much as they feed off of my energy. And they are as inspiring, I mean their work is very inspirational. It kind of makes me think about the lesson and how to approach it differently. And how to make improvements, that’s also great. Often times to see when their work kind of goes beyond what I had expected, it’s always great to see that. Each year it really does inspire me and inform how I should approach it the next time, I mean there’s always room for improvement. I think that’s where their work inspires me; because every group, I’ve been here for 16 years and every year you get a new crop of ninth graders and they all have their own personalities and different levels of art experience, and different passions and interests. And so, I think that’s what I like about teaching, it’s not the same every year. And those interactions are all very personal and honestly it makes it fun, we try to have fun! If they don’t enjoy what they’re doing, then what’s the point?