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This was a new one for me.
There was a time when I was aware of thinking that I had become an idiot, and although I never had to wear a dunce cap at school I wasn’t a stellar student. I received physical punishment when as a new student in grade 5 I got the strap for a snow ball fight and then later I received a spanking for misspelling a word at a boys school. I went into Grade 11 when I was 14 because they thought a private school put me ahead so I would graduate sooner, but I got out of Grade 12 when I was 19. I needed 3 years to complete grade 11 and 2 years for grade 12. I thought any brains I had before had slipped out of the back of my head.
It was at college and then university that I realized I could do school and do it very well.
To the world I was an “idiot” but I learned that I was smart and could do the work that was required to maintain good marks.
A printmaker that I have always admired is Antonio Frasconi, an Uruguayan born artist who immigrated to the USA. He illustrated numerous books and did woodcuts that focused on his political beliefs. What I liked most about him was that he used the character of the wood in his prints, whether it was the grain of the wood or marks.
He didn’t try to hide the flaws and from him I learned that it’s OK to have imperfections that make you different.
 

Frasconi