Which is more important?

Today I was faced with the question about what was more important to me as an art teacher, art or teaching? I've come to realize that teaching is more important to me as an art teacher than art itself. While I think that art is important, art is not able to impact in the same ways teaching is able. A teacher has the ability to impact a student's life on a personal basis by providing support, guidance, and compassion. Art cannot do that. Plus, teachers have the ability to teach students how to create art; art cannot teach students how to create. While it can provide itself as an example, it cannot teach a student how to create what it is.

A follow-up question was involved, which asked, "do you need to be an artist to be an art teacher?"
I believe that in order to be an art teacher one must be an artist. My reasoning for why I believe this to be true is this: you cannot properly teach a child how to create a work of art if you are incapable of producing that art form yourself. By being an artist, you will have a good grasp on the tools and processes that are necessary to produce art. Plus, by being an artist, an art teacher can help their students pass through bouts of confusion when they reach a point in the process of creating art that they do not quite understand.