TIME MANAGEMENT
THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN YOUR ART CLASSES
 

I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that an old guy like myself is concerned with time. After all, I’ve probably got a lot less of it left than you. Since I’ve already used up so much of mine (a lot of it unwisely), let me try to get you to understand a couple of the painful lessons I’ve learned so that you can have “the gain without the pain”.

First off, wasted time is just that, WASTED! You don’t get any benefit out of it and you usually don’t really enjoy it. Most people spend at least two or three hours every day just doing nothing! I’m not counting vital activities like sleeping or eating as doing nothing! I’m referring to things like sitting in a stupor before the T.V. or just hanging out “waiting for something to happen”. If students gave just half of their “wasted time” to their studies we’d have some genuine grade inflation around here!

O.K. That’s the take on wasted time. Now, here’s the Second off (remember the other was “first off”). It’s not just enough to use your time for studies, you’ve got to do it effectively. That is, you’ve got to manage your time. You do this by budgeting and setting priorities. As an example, if you are taking two classes that require about the same level of effort and amount of reading, and you have two hours available, logically, you should give an hour to each. If one of them was more difficult for you than the other, you’d be right to give it more of your time. That’s budgeting. If you have one assignment due tomorrow and another due three days from now, the logical act would be to get cracking on tomorrow’s assignment and give time to the other assignment later. That’s setting priorities.

I’ve deliberately used bookish examples up to this point because schoolwork is typically 80 or 90 percent book work and that’s what you’re familiar with. Yes, this is a studio class and it’s activities vary somewhat from those of the academic classes you’re used to. However, budgeting and setting priorities are very important to your success in this class. They may be even more so than in some academic classes.

Technical/physical processes often have a sequence (set priorities) that must be followed. For example; in order to make a plaster bust, you must first make a clay original, then you have to make a mold, and finally, cast the plaster. Further, some things can’t be hurried. Plaster takes a certain amount of time to set and that’s that! If you wait until it’s too late (budget poorly) it becomes physically impossible to complete your work. Of course your grade (what grade?) suffers if you don’t manage time wisely.

Art 220 - SCULPTURE SURVEY I - is a time consuming class. There’s a lot of work to be done and a lot of it is stuff you’ve never done before. You’re not going to be able to work quickly. When you see an instructor take an hour to demonstrate something, plan on that same something costing you four hours (if you’re good).

Department of Art policy requires you to spend at least one hour “out of class” for every two hours of in class studio work. This means you’ll put in two and a half hours of this outside time for class every week - AT A MINIMUM! I calculate required outside work into the (generous)time I allow for each project. Plan on spending AT LEAST this amount of outside time if you want to succeed.

ALL WORK IS DUE AS SET IN THE CLASS CALENDAR. Work is due at the start of a class, not some time later. You WILL NOT BE ALLOWED to finish your work while others are presenting theirs for critique. Remember, poor planning/time management on your part does not constitute an excuse I’ll accept for late work.

AVOID TROUBLE, MANAGE YOUR TIME WISELY RIGHT FROM THE FIRST.
Sculpturally yours, E.C.H.