Jan H Croteau on Teaching Art Online

As part of our series highlighting successful, inspirational, and just downright awesome CourseCraft creators, we virtually sat down with artist, writer, and teacher Jan H Croteau.

Join us as we learn about what inspires Jan in her work, and why she chooses to take on the sometimes daunting, but important, task of teaching art to others through her online courses.

What’s your earliest memory of creating art, and what role has art played in your life since then?

When I was six years old, I got a box of deluxe crayons and a roll of white craft paper from my parents for my birthday.

I remember rolling out the paper on the floor of my bedroom, laying down on it, and tracing an outline of my body.

I filled in that outline with a bright shining sunrise over mountains and rainbows across the sky and rivers running down my arms with flowers everywhere.

Years later I looked back at that point in my development and realized that was the moment I knew I was an artist and that resistance was futile.

Who are some of your biggest inspirations professionally and creatively?

When I was a senior in high school, I fell in love with the work of Georgia O’Keefe, Lee Miller, Zora Hurston, Ella Fitzgerald, and Helen Frankenthaler. Quite a cast of diverse artists, but this was back in the 1960s when most women artists were not being recognized for their creative work, and so, I really treasured them.

Also, my mother was an entrepreneur who started her own businesses and successfully ran them from 1960 through 2010. She was a great inspiration for me.

What’s inspired you to teach others your creative skills?

I have been a teacher my entire adult life. I love to teach creativity because I’ve witnessed so many transformations that students of all ages make in their lives when they learn to value their own creative genius.

Our creativity is our power and without utilizing that part of ourselves we are missing the meaning in our lives.

My belief is that we are here to create, but many people have forgotten that, so I’m here to remind the ones who have forgotten.

What was the catalyst for you bringing your business online?

I knew it was time to go online for a few years before I took the plunge, in 2015 I retired from a non-profit Shakespeare Theater Company I had founded 20 years earlier. It was difficult to leave the company, but I wanted to get back to painting and sculpting, so I made the transition from theater director to online entrepreneur.

I took Marie Forleo’s B-School in 2015. Soon after I built my own online gallery, started a weekly newsletter called ArtWord Sunday News and ran a blog. I also started teaching courses and workshops after building a new art studio.

My classes were full, my life was exceptionally wonderful because I had just the right amount of teaching-time balanced with art-and-writing-time.

And then in March 2020, everything changed… for everyone in the world.

It only took me a few days to realize that if this was the End-Times, well, what did I want to contribute?

I started sending what I called The ArtWord Creativity Prompt every morning to anyone who wanted it for free. That email grew into a lovely community of creatives online. And then it hit me, I needed to do online classes.

What were some challenges you faced in the process of starting your business, and also bringing it online?

The technical part was very challenging. Building my own website, figuring out Mail-Chimp, starting Instagram, getting established on Facebook as an artist… those things kept me climbing up and oftentimes stumbling down the learning curve.

What’s your favorite aspect of teaching online courses?

I LOVE teaching online!

I wanted to do it for a while, but the technical part was too daunting. And then I came across CourseCraft.

That was a happy day for me because CourseCraft lets you start for free so you can get a feel for how easy it is to navigate the site and build your course.

With the pandemic, I can’t teach safely in my studio…and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure about online teaching, but I am so happy I did it.

All the participants in my course have been great and I so enjoy our back and forth through the comments and our emails.

What are your favorite parts about using CourseCraft?

I cannot say enough good about CourseCraft.

The way it’s set up makes it so easy to work with.

CourseCraft customer service is outstanding.

Sara and Ryan’s instructional videos are so clear and clean and to the point.

Using CourseCraft opens up yet another stream of income for anyone who wants to teach whatever they know…cooking, public speaking, tap dancing…anything!

I have recommended CourseCraft to other artists in hopes that they too will find a way to generate another income stream during the pandemic, but also to know how wonderful it is to make positive learning experiences available to everyone.

What advice do you have for women looking to start their own business?

Please… get started now.

Women are passionate creators and this world needs you now more than ever.

Examine your stumbling blocks and then turn each block into a stepping stone.

Here’s a suggestion: Make a list.

On the left side, list all the things you see as liabilities of why you can’t start an online business.

Now, on the right-side turn those supposed liabilities into their complete opposite… i.e. turn it into an asset.

For example:

· “ I have no money”, can be turned into… I don’t need money to start an online business. I can invest as I go.

· “I have no time”, can be turned into… I always have the time for what’s important.

· “ I have no ideas”, can be turned into… I can contribute to making life better for someone else by helping them to solve a problem. (Here’s where you get to insert what problem you’d like to solve.)

I cannot emphasize this enough, the world NEEDS Women Entrepreneurs!

We will change the world by changing our own economic reality.

You are more powerful than you can possibly imagine! All you need is a computer and access to the internet, the rest is up to your imagination and creativity.

Can you please highlight one of your favorite courses that are currently open for enrollment?

My course is called Sketchbooking with Watercolor and Ink. I really love teaching this course because it’s not only about drawing and painting, but also, the importance of recording your life in sketchbooks. Especially at this time in history.

Imagine finding a book your grandmother left to you that had paintings and stories in it. You would treasure it, I’m sure.

I know my sketchbooks will out-live me and I want my descendants to know what it was like to live through these times and what it was that I so loved about this world.

What’s next for you and your business?

I have big plans.

I plan to create several courses using CourseCraft. The first ones will be sketch-booking including the fundamentals of drawing and painting so anyone who wants to learn art can do so and get good results.

Then I will move on to what I called my “Spirit-Art Courses” that I taught in my studio before the pandemic. In these courses, students will gain greater access to their intuition by using art as a channel to open the door to their inner lives.

I hope to convert all of this into a membership site full of courses that kicks everyone’s creativity into high gear because …as I say at the end of my ArtWord Sunday Newsletter each week…