I remember my art teacher at school was called Mr Dick, much to our childish amusement. He encouraged me in my art though and I remember very well copying Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights when I was 12, much to his approval.
When I was 17 and went to art college I was in awe of one of my teachers. We could smoke in class back then, the height of bohemianism I thought and this teacher could make a roll up one handed, with his hand behind his back. It was a sight to behold.
He was however a grumpy and often miserable tutor, ‘cynical of anything his students did’. We were a little art college in Harrogate and he was teaching annoying seventeen year olds graphic design.
One day I found out why he always seemed bored shitless. He was the man that designed the famous The Who logo. Whether that made him eligible to be a good art teacher I don’t know but at least it probably explained the excellent way he could build an almost spliff without looking.
