So You Want to Teach Art in College?

An E-Stamp and Story may make your career click

When someone asks me what I do, I'd like to give them a one word answer and then have them say, "Oh, YOU'RE the famous Bill Ritchie!" I'd like to be able to say, "Games" and they would know who I was immediately. “You invented Emeralda! I LOVE that game!”

By Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

When someone asks me what I do, I'd like to give them a one word answer and then have them say, "Oh, YOU'RE the famous Bill Ritchie!" I'd like to say, "Games" and they'd take one look at me and realize I couldn't mean regular computer games. I look around 60 or so, therefore I'd have to be that old guy they read about who invented a blockbuster game--something no one thought could ever happen: A cooperative online video game.

It's like asking a guy at a party, a guy with a patch on one eye, curly-haired and having a good time, what he does and he says, "Glass" and you realize he's Dale Chihuly. Or, if you're more familiar with games and a quiet, teacher-looking guy answers, "Magic" you know he's talking about the original "The Gathering" collectible trading card game and he's Richard Garfield.

I've thought about both Dale Chihuly and Richard Garfield a lot because I admire both of them for what they did. Dale started Pilchuck Glass School and Garfield, the math teacher, invented a game that is so original that he was able to patent the method of play. I liked to compare myself to them because one was an artist and designer who knew how to get people involved in big projects and the other was a teacher, like me who, you might say, expanded his classroom far beyond the normal school.

Their stories are interesting--far more interesting than mine is so far. Yet we share the same time-frame in years, and all of us work or worked in education in various ways. Chihuly continues to fund education projects with gifts and grants. I don't know anything about Garfield, but it seems to me if you start out in education, you're with it for life. He's certainly taught me, just by looking at what transcended from when he got Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) to publish Magic: The Gathering.

In the article I read today in the business section by Penelope Trunk, A one-minute story may be key to a storied career, I thought immediately about my entry in the games world. I want to create a game that has both the Chihuly/Pilchuck saga and the Magic example. In other words, it makes both a real school and a make-believe school.

Here's how I mean to do it. A one-minute story of Dale Chihuly's success is very interesting. I'm sure it's been told and printed and videotaped a thousand times. There is, probably, a big archive of material stored at Chihuly, Inc. It's probably even a bigger archive at WOTC, based on the fact that Magic outsells Chihuly by a great margin (even though one Chihuly would buy you gajillions of Magic cards).

One minute would be enough if the listener was only mildly interested in art glass--such as a teenager or someone who could not afford to own such a thing, nor pay the price of admission to the museum to see it. On the other hand, an electronic stamp with an image of a Chihuly glass piece, and a game about keeping it from falling over and breaking would be appealing.

Or imagine a limited edition of real stamps that match the electronic stamps, each stamp embossed with the official Chihuly Seal of Authenticity, now that would be fun to have. This, basically, is how I envision raising the consciousness and the money to have the school of my dreams, a school that ties new digital technologies with traditional printmaking. I want to maintain the values of traditional hand made prints even while advocating new digital printmaking (such as gicleé and laser prints) and electronic publishing.

Only by making an interesting story of my life can I hope to achieve this. I don't assume that anyone knows what I've done. I don't assume that my art work and teaching history can speak for itself. It doesn't. Hardly anyone knows what I've done--even those in my family. And no one knows what I do now or what I want to do.

I need to tell them, as Penelope Trunk is saying in her article (see sidebar, right). The best way to tell them without sounding boring or self-obsessed is to tell stories. I think with my idea (or was it C. T. Chew's? That's another story!) of Stamps 'N Stories I can achieve the first step: Put a game on-line, maybe in Tacoma at their art museum, that sets the stage or presents a prototype I can use.

I'm like a player in a game, standing at a precipice with dangers closing in all around me: Boredom, old age, loss of creativity--the potential list is frighteningly long--there's no choice but to jump into the digital age and see what the work of art can do now.

At the very least, it will make an interesting story!

Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. is an Itinerate Professor of Art in Seattle. He taught 19 years at the UW as a professor of art, traditional printmaking and media arts. Resigning at 43 to start his own learning, research and production company, he created Emeralda in 1992, a game strategy he likens to a fantasy region accessible only by computer. He invented rules-of-play and an operating system he wants to be an online interactive game. He’s immersed himself in a virtual promised land in the age of digital reproduction.

He writes for the benefit of discipline, using a PDA when he's wandering around and a desktop PC to organize his essays. He has a thousand or more saved. You can read his blog on the island of Perfect Press in the Emeralda Region under Services.

The article at the left is based on the article A one-minute story may be key to a storied career By PENELOPE TRUNK, SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER on July 7, 2003, the business section.

When someone asks "What do you do?" a one-word answer will put your career on ice. You need to have a story. When you want to establish a connection with someone, a story provides social glue.

When you want to impress someone, a story is more memorable than a list of achievements.

Early in my career, I interviewed for a job as a user interface designer. The hiring manager asked me how I got involved in UI design.

I could have said, "I thought it looked interesting so I gave it a try and I was good at it." But anyone can answer the very standard how-did-you-find-your-career question with that answer.

So instead, I told this story: An old boyfriend was a programmer, and he worked from home, while I was in school. He plastered designs all over our bedroom wall and our living room floor so that he could think them though. Finally, I told him if he was going to mess up the apartment then he had to be the one to clean it, and I handed him the toilet scrubber. We argued about who had extra time for cleaning and who didn't and finally he said, "Fine. I'll clean, but you do the UI design." And to his surprise, I did.

I got the job. And every time I have been able to tell stories in interviews, I have gotten the job.

When it comes to your career, have a one-minute story ready. It's the story of you -- how you got to where you are and what your achievements are. When someone asks a question like, "How did you get into advertising?" tell your story.

When you interview, tell stories. You know you're going to encounter the question, "What are your strengths?" Don't give a list. It's not persuasive. Tell a story about how you did something amazing by using your strengths. This way you tell the hiring manager something memorable and you get in a bit about your achievements.

Once you get the job, keep telling stories as a way to promote yourself within the company. The first month of your job, no one knows you, so they ask questions like, "Where were you before this?" or "What sort of experience do you have?" These are times to tell your story.

If you are funny, make your story funny. If you are not funny, be vulnerable in your story. For example, when people ask me how I became a writer, sometimes I start my story with how I was working just blocks away from the World Trade Center when it fell and my software company never recovered. This is not essential to my story, but the World Trade Center brings people into my story right away.

Your success at your job will depend on you finding someone to help you navigate the corporate ladder: You need to find a mentor; you need to get on plumb projects. You need to show people you are smart and interesting so that they want to help you. Don't assume that your work speaks for itself. It doesn't. Most people will have no idea what you have done, or what you do now. You need to tell them. And the best way to tell them without sounding boring or self-obsessed is to tell stories.

Still feeling queasy about talking yourself up to people? Check out the book "Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It" by Peggy Klaus, the master of self-promotion. Worried that you don't know how to tell a story? Give business books a break and take a look at "Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories" edited by James Thomas. This is an anthology of two-page stories that have similar pacing as those you'll tell at the office.

Spinning a good story is difficult. But building a career without a story is even more difficult. So you'd better start spinning.