Why Art is the Most Important Class (Ep. 526)

Tim Bogatz: Okay, Chris Hodge is joining me now. Hodge, how are you?

Chris Hodge: I’m doing great, Tim. I just came back from Tennessee and I’m enjoying this hot summer weather.

Tim Bogatz: Yes, it’s been kind of hot for everybody here, unfortunately. But summer’s always good—I’m glad you got some vacation time. I’m also excited to have you at the Art Ed NOW Conference pretty soon. People have loved your presentations in the past. But before we dive into anything there, I’d love for you to give us an introduction. What can you tell us about yourself and your teaching?

Chris Hodge: Yeah, well, I’ve been teaching for quite a long time now. I keep saying more than twenty years, but it’s getting close to twenty-five, so I’m not going to get specific going forward. I’ve been teaching at the high school level across a lot of different subjects—from photography to drawing, ceramics, jewelry, and even film and video, which was a fun little excursion for a bit. Teaching lots of different courses is nice because it allows you to see the connections between them and really think about what you value in your teaching.

If I was going to say what I value most in the classroom—without getting specific to techniques or classroom management—I’d say creativity. Making sure that assignments are thoughtful and give students choice so they can do their own thing, something they can really buy into. I have some friends who are very passionate about choice-based education, and I totally agree—I think that’s ideal. But it’s also a lot of work to provide genuine choice for students. If you’re doing it right, you have to set up all these different media for the kids to explore.

Tim Bogatz: Yeah, if you’re really valuing what goes into choice, it can be a lot of work on the teacher.

Chris Hodge: Because you’re working with so many different directions at one time. But I do think it’s better. Ideally, where I can, I want to involve as much choice as possible in students’ learning. And I think having students really care about what they’re doing—so that they’re asking you questions versus you just telling them what they can do—that’s going to go better for everyone. It’s hard to get kids to really want to explore and dig in and discover things, but I think that’s the ideal. If they’re proud of what they’re doing and happy with what they’re creating, they’re going to be moving forward in their art making in a much more effective way.

Tim Bogatz: I also wanted to ask you about your own art. I know you’re a prolific artist—you do all sorts of different things—and before we get into the specifics of what you make and how you find time to create, I’d love a big-picture view. What do you make? What’s your style? What can you tell people about your own art practice?

Chris Hodge: That’s a great question. When it comes to theme and style, I had someone tell me that I create “obsessive narratives,” which I found to be really interesting—and I agree. That is kind of what I do. Maybe not in every drawing, but there is an obsessive nature to the way I work with line and pattern. I like to get into a lot of detail in the drawings, and I also try to tell a story through the artwork. I don’t always call it illustration, but usually there’s a meaning or something that connects everything.

I’ve been making art my entire life—I don’t really remember a time when I wasn’t. My mom is a painter; she loves to create, and I grew up drawing with her at the kitchen table. My dad was also incredibly supportive. Where some parents might discourage their kids from going into the arts, my dad was all about it. He was more blue collar—he worked at a cereal factory, and I actually worked there for a little bit, too. It was a really fun job. He would bring home boxes and different art supplies, and we’d make forts together and construct things. I just spent my childhood making art.

There weren’t many other kids in my neighborhood—it was an older neighborhood and I didn’t have any siblings—so that’s just what I would do. I remember going to my grandparents’ house and, before cell phones and video games, you had to find ways to entertain yourself. I’d go through their encyclopedias—the physical ones, A through C—looking at the illustrations, finding a word, and drawing what I thought it meant. That was kind of my childhood.

When I actually started elementary school, I was incredibly quiet. I just could not talk to people, and I relied on drawing almost as a way to communicate—maybe a coping mechanism, but it was a way that I found my place with my peers.

Tim Bogatz: I love that. And you know, those encyclopedias on the grandparents’ shelves—I did the same thing. Everyone in their mid-twenties listening to this is probably thinking, “What are these guys talking about?” But it was absolutely a formative experience to learn about things that way and get inspiration from those drawings and illustrations.

Chris Hodge: I just remember wanting to get an encyclopedia so badly, because that was like the internet—the whole world was in those books. Things have definitely shifted. I wouldn’t want that kind of immediate gratification and constant access. It’s got to be so overwhelming for kids today.

Tim Bogatz: It’s interesting, because you talked earlier about how when you offer kids choice, the real shift happens when they start to become curious on their own. I always think about that as I watch my own kids grow up. They don’t have to be curious—every answer is at their fingertips. That curiosity just isn’t there in the same way because you don’t have to wonder anymore.

Chris Hodge: It’s strange. You’re given this incredible power—to learn about anything, know about anything, be anywhere—and yet because it’s so easy or because you know it’s always available, it almost loses some of its value. Kids just don’t seem to be quite as curious.

Tim Bogatz: Right. You don’t appreciate it as much because you’ve never known anything different. But bringing it back to your art—why is it important for you to keep creating? And as a second part of that question, how much of that idea of continuing to make art comes into your classroom? How does it affect your teaching or how you interact with students?

Chris Hodge: I find real comfort in art making, and it’s almost a part of my identity—a major part. I remember my first year of teaching, feeling so incredibly overwhelmed, thinking, “I don’t know if I can do this.” I was assigned a study hall with about fifty seniors in it, and I was twenty-two years old, looking around at basically adults. It was a bit of a train wreck, I’m not going to lie.

But I remember it was eighth hour, and I finally just needed to work on something. I was just out of college, where I’d explored a lot of different media—painting, drawing, pixels, photography, all kinds of things—but ink was always what I really connected to, going back to middle school and high school. So I got some paper, got an illustration board, had some ballpoint pens with me, and just started to draw. The kids would kind of hover around and watch. I guess you’re still teaching even in a study hall. I still have that drawing—it’s actually up in the hallway of our school. The other teachers don’t know the story behind it, but that was the first drawing I made as a teacher.

I really liked having art be the conduit through which I connect with students. In the classroom, I don’t want you to think I’m drawing during class time—there’s just no time for that. There are too many other things going on. I’ve always wanted to be one of those teachers who creates alongside their students, but it just never happened, not once, even on a Saturday AP workshop where I thought, “I’ll just bring a drawing and we’ll both work.” I’d end up not being able to do it—too many questions, too many doors to open for kids.

But whether it’s during passing periods, before or after class, or during lunch—if the kids see you making something, I think they see that you believe in it. It’s a part of you, something you care about. And they can identify with that. Many of those students might feel the same way, and they might see you almost as a peer in a different way—someone on the same creative journey they’re on.

Tim Bogatz: It sparks that curiosity we were talking about, and it goes both ways. They see things you’re creating and it might inspire them to try something in their sketchbook. And at the same time, you’ll see kids come up with stuff and think, “I never would have thought of that.” You can see the value in those ideas, and it may lead to something down the road for you too.

Chris Hodge: Yeah, I feel a little bit like a creativity vampire—I go in and I’m just feeding on what they’re doing, thinking, “That’s a good idea. I like that one, too.” But I hope it’s a mutual thing—a relationship with real give and take. I’m getting inspired by them, and they’re getting inspired by me. That’d be the ideal.

Tim Bogatz: Next, I wanted to ask you about finding time to create your own work. With so much going on in teaching, it can be easy to get burnt out, and finding time for personal work can be a real challenge. What does art making look like for you? When are you finding the time, and what are you doing when it’s time to create?

Chris Hodge: There is something nice about the classroom—I have big tables and art supplies everywhere, so I do like working there. A lot of times I’ll stay after school a bit, or work during lunch. Not usually before school, because these days I need a lot of coffee to get started.

At home, I work in a more comfortable setting—maybe with YouTube or Netflix playing in the background. And probably like a lot of artists, I actually work really well in the middle of the night. The world is asleep, everything is dark, and I can get into this prolonged state of focus.

You might think I’d have music playing, but I actually don’t like to listen to music when I’m drawing. I used to, but I started getting bored with it. Now I prefer to listen to talk radio.

Tim Bogatz: Interesting.

Tim Bogatz: You are an old guy at this point.

Chris Hodge: I know! But I love hearing people talk—you’re learning about new things. I remember listening to a Pink Floyd album on loop, and by the third or fourth time through I was done. I’d much rather hear people discuss world events. And I think not having a family of my own gives me a little more time for late-night work sessions. But also, the more you’re plugged in to the art community—if you’ve got a show coming up, someone has commissioned something from you, or you’re getting engagement on Instagram—that kind of accountability keeps you motivated. It locks you in to the point where you have to keep making things.

Tim Bogatz: That leads me to my next question. I know staying engaged with the art community helps keep the creativity flowing, but every artist has times when they get stuck—a creative block or just a struggle to get back to work. What do you do at that point? Are there strategies you can share for getting through those blocks?

Chris Hodge: I think first you have to identify what the block actually is. If it’s an idea block—you just can’t come up with an idea—well, I’ll admit I’m a big-time procrastinator. But I don’t think procrastination is quite the same as a creative block. When you’re procrastinating, I think you’re actually chewing on the idea; you just haven’t gotten started yet.

My favorite thing to do when I’m truly blocked is to mow the lawn. There’s something about that repetitive, back-and-forth motion where a certain part of your brain is focused on the task—keeping you moving forward, staying on track—while another part of your brain just goes crazy with ideas. I’d also recommend not listening to music while you do it. Just the hum of the lawnmower lets your brain travel in all kinds of directions.

Driving works the same way for me. I went from music to talk radio to silence when I drive, and I actually prefer the silence now. Just thinking and reflecting. If the block is an idea block, you might need to remove yourself from an overstimulated environment, do something mundane, and let those thoughts percolate.

But if you’re overwhelmed by a big project and just can’t bring yourself to start, that’s a different challenge. Maybe you have the idea, but not the will. In that case, I think it helps to get some small victories first—a smaller drawing, a smaller task—to build the confidence to move forward. I’ve had projects that felt overwhelming, and doing a few smaller things first helped me warm up.

And here’s another thing: I work in ink, and with ink there’s no erasing—you just have to make it work. One thing I always hated about pencil, beyond the smudging and loss of contrast, is that you can self-edit constantly. You put a line down, erase it, put a line down, erase it. Because you can always undo, you get stuck in a loop of not starting, constantly second-guessing yourself. Whereas with ink, that’s it—that’s what you’ve got. It teaches you resilience. It teaches you to make do with what you have, to embrace the mistakes. Sometimes something better comes out of that. I feel like there are real life lessons in there.

Tim Bogatz: It’s there. It’s permanent.

Chris Hodge: Exactly. And honestly, I think that’s a really good thing.

Tim Bogatz: Now, one last question before we let you go. I want to hear about your Art Ed NOW presentation. You’re going to be talking about why art is the most important class, and I love that message. I don’t want you to give everything away, but can you give us a quick overview of what you’ll be sharing?

Chris Hodge: Absolutely. I think the main idea is that creativity is what should unify all art classes. You want kids to think in different ways—to interpret, to connect things, to make something new from what’s already there. And I believe that all domains of teaching involve creativity, whether it’s math, science, or English. It’s just that in other subjects, you have to reach a certain level of understanding before you can get to that creative level.

Take math—and I’ll admit I’m not great at math. One of my problems was that all those formulas and equations just didn’t mean anything to me at the time. But math is actually incredibly meaningful and creative. People have discovered the breadth and scope of our universe through math. It’s just that it’s such a long road to reach the creative point—like climbing Mount Everest in terms of conceptual development.

In art, there’s a much lower entry point for creative development. Little kids make art when they’re growing up—you can pick up a pen and start drawing something. It may not be the best, but you’re growing with it. And the beauty is that to build creativity through art, you don’t have to have a whole lot of skill first. You can start making something right away. It’s a “low floor, high ceiling” kind of subject—the sky’s the limit. You can take simple things, keep playing with them, thinking about them in different ways, keep exploring while learning more about technique and process.

To me, that’s the real importance of art: it allows kids to start thinking creatively at an earlier stage, so that in later stages of life they have that creative thinking already developed. You’ve got to be creative before that to have the right mindset for it.

Tim Bogatz: Yeah, I think that’s really well said, and it’s an idea worth exploring as art teachers. I’m looking forward to seeing what you put together for that presentation. Hodge, thank you so much for joining me—it was great to talk to you, and great to finally have you on the podcast. We’ll look forward to seeing you at the conference soon.

Chris Hodge: I’m looking forward to it. Thanks again for inviting me—I’d be happy to do more in the future.

Tim Bogatz: Alright, sounds good. We’ll talk to you soon.

Chris Hodge: Alright, bye-bye.