The Banyan Tree
Most of us remember someone who opened a door in our minds. ‘Why are you drawing the tree like that?’ queried the art teacher. I said I didn’t know but that was how I felt like doing it. He asked why I felt like doing it like that. I confessed I didn’t know. ‘You should,’ he said, ‘otherwise how can you really draw the tree?’ I still didn’t understand. Eventually I did. Of course there are also those who close doors. Making a colour composition another teacher once sharply admonished me saying, ‘We never use orange!’ She was a formidable lady and I didn’t dare ask why — even now I look over my shoulder if I use orange. I was also taught by Josef Albers (painter and colourist) who believed teaching was a matter of asking the right questions rather than giving the right answers. Not that he was exactly open minded. He used to say Matisse didn’t know anything about colour and regularly picked me out in class with his cold eye to state that the English had no taste. But by then I’d learnt what, and what not, to listen to. If your mind is too open people can throw all sorts of rubbish into it.
— Alan Fletcher, Beware Wet Paint
