Teaching Artfully by Meghan Parker: An autobiographical comics about art and life

Teaching Artfully
Meghan Parker
Clover Press
ISBN: 9781951038205
PRICE: $24.99 (USD)
**This is an ARC provided by NetGalley for book reviews.**

Meghan Parker created her MA thesis completed at Simon Fraser University as an autobiographical comics now published as the book Teaching Artfully. In the tradition of Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and Nick Sousanis’ Unflattening, Parker’s work brings her quest to understand art, her teaching principles, and the philosophy of making art through drawn images and hand lettering. The book is vibrant and delightful. Somewhat non-linear in sequence, Parker’s autobiography comes alive through jewel-coloured swashes and her playful narration. As any thesis would contain, she embeds quotations from various sources and inspirations. She blends the elements of line, colour, form, texture, shape, space, and value as symbols in the book to describe art and life itself. The non-linear structure of this book makes it very approachable to read. You can open any page and find a nugget of joy and wisdom altogether. Her watercolour treatment jumps off from every page and welcomes you to pick up your brush and tubes of colour and start exploring your own self through brushstrokes.

Art has an important role to play in the development of human character. This is the broad theme of this thesis. The compartmentalization of our disciplines as outlined in the majority of school curricula only lead to the creation of separate entities inside our minds. And since most subjects require analytical skills, art lags far behind on the learning curve, thus ruling out any connection between our bodily senses and nature. We forget that our sense of sight, smell, and touch are equally important in learning. All these senses are engaged when we combine art along with technical skills. Sure specialist technical skills are required to acquire steady job prospects and progress on a linear growth curve. But in the long run, a person misses out on the unexplored territories that render depth and meaning to our lives. This specialization makes it more challenging to grow meaningful connections in life altogether. We get more disenchanted from the beauty and meaning around us. I highly recommend this cheery book for anyone who needs a spark of joy and creativity daily.