TEACHING PHILOSPHY:
I believe in the communicative power of the visual arts. I tell my students that their ability to communicate through a work of art is determined by the quality of the marks they used to create it. Quality is created by a journey through self-awareness, intention, sensitivity, expended energy, process, practice, success, failure, experience, focus and vision. This journey starts with the formal fundamentals of art and design. The beginning of any creative process starts with a sketch, a re-presentation, a translation of the abstract into the actual, an effort to physically envision an idea held in ones mind. No matter the path of artistic evolution, the clarity of the initial vision is translated through a combination of skill and experience and a willingness to be open and vulnerable, which is directly related to the magnificence of the end result.
Visual art is a language and like any other field of study one must understand the fundamental structure before moving to complex comprehension and fluid communication. Visual literacy begins in drawing with direct, objective observation, i.e. “seeing”. It holds the utmost importance technically and metaphorically. It is the initial platform that I use in introductory courses to launch all the other formal elements of art and design. Students can understand proportion, line, composition, gesture, shape, light, perspective, space, movement, color, craft and content just through objective observation. This process takes discipline and patience; therefore, students also learn invaluable character building lessons about focused concentration and self-awareness throughout the success and failure process. As this technical foundation is being built it is also imperative to integrate contemporary and art historical images and references into class discussions. These beginning discussions can validate the importance of the mastery of technical skills being learned, as well as reinforce the understanding of abstraction of imagery and integration of meaning throughout art history.
My in-class lectures and drawing demonstrations are often discussion based because beginning students should be encouraged to ask questions about the boundaries of technique, medium, image and intention. It is okay to ask why. Why are we doing this? Open inquiry leads to experimentation and independent thinking, which should also be encouraged from the start; assuming a high level of discipline is maintained. A spirit of exploration is an imperative partner to technical virtuosity and should become second nature to advanced students as they learn how to interrogate their own work about the specificity of content as it relates to the evolution of their working process. In advanced classes, I encourage students to use in-class studio time to be ambitious, to push past their technical comfort zone and to experiment with formal elements as well as the diversity of the medium and technique at hand. They are then able to take what they learn and integrate it into outside work as it relates to complexity of concept, refinement of finish and presentation.
As students move forward into advanced technical and cognitive courses, the breadth of this conversation should expand to include a more complex and refined semiotic dissection of the formal arrangement and technical execution. This visual deconstruction is inserted into in class demonstrations, assignment presentation and critique discussions to promote awareness of how every detail of visual information can be processed historically, psychologically, or philosophically. The reiteration of visual rhetoric helps clarify and broaden the perspective of how ideas and imagery connect with an audience, ultimately informing and aiding the student in efforts to communicate through their own work.
At the same time as conducting external research, students should also be encouraged to search through their internal dialogue. Through techniques such as brainstorming, threading and other processes of radiant thinking, they can generate ideas that are authentic to their experiences and interests, which are the source of valuable self-motivation. These processes also allow the student to learn how to translate abstract concepts, such as emotion, into written language; which, in-turn, ease the discussion of sensitive subject matter and create detail of articulation, ergo image. Studio and Thesis courses should encourage students to continue to remain open minded: embrace chance and change, take purposeful risks, problem solve, research, and develop layered, authentic presence within an overall body of work. As the instructor, one of the primary objectives in these advanced classes is to listen to the students. It is not the instructor’s role to come up with solutions for their work, but instead to listen long enough, and ask enough questions, until it becomes clear what the specifics of the content focus are. Intense, patient listening then becomes a learned skill, through the example given.
Graduate study continues with an even wider range of experimentation, research, questioning and analysis within visual language to sophisticate imagery and elaborate conversation. Content and process should fully cross boundaries and bounce back in order to enrich technical exploration and thoroughly sift through conceptual discoveries throughout multiple works. Full motivation is placed on the students shoulders, allowing them even more artistic autonomy and the highest standards of expectation when it comes to the production, quality and exhibition of their work. Their experience should consist of a full niche immersion into the professional working artist community and a prolific exhaustion of their studio and academic access.
Group critique is a constant, essential, and dare I say, one of my favorite parts of the classroom experience from the very beginning to the most advanced level. As the instructor, on any level of study, it provides the opportunity to reinforce objective visual inquiry, reference related contemporary and art historical examples, point out successful and unsuccessful technical execution and discuss the effectiveness of content. For the student it demonstrates the invaluable skill of listening, in general, but specifically to relevant suggestions, whether those suggestions are from myself, fellow classmates or other instructors. Critique lets the student know better than any other method how well they are independently executing their technique and ideas. Not only does it provide a chance for students to deal with possible contrasting points of view, but it also gives them the opportunity to speak about their work. Oratory presentation develops a visual, theoretical and conceptual vocabulary. This absorption of conversation and language development is increasingly important as it adds to the necessary growth of sophisticated writing skills. It also creates a sense of community as it inevitably stirs up discussion and provides a safe place to practice discourse.
In addition to the academic information I organize and present in the classroom, my most significant contribution is sincere enthusiasm. It is my experience that learning is about genuine connection. I learned a long time ago that this is something that cannot be faked and classroom instruction, as well as successful artwork, is about clear, authentic communication. I feel more alive in the classroom than anywhere else because it teaches me to bring all of me. I share my thoughts and reflections. I expect and request mutual respect and safety. I am brutally honest. I let loose my sense of humor. I show my own work. I boast about my accomplishments. I reveal my flaws. I allow myself to be vulnerable. I let my students into my heart. I tell them how I feel. I listen to how they feel. I look beyond the surface. No topic is off limits. I allow myself to just…be…me. The more I commit to wholeheartedness within myself, the more my students commit to their work. We make great work…and we have a great time doing it.
I believe in the communicative power of the visual arts. I tell my students that their ability to communicate through a work of art is determined by the quality of the marks they used to create it. Quality is created by a journey through self-awareness, intention, sensitivity, expended energy, process, practice, success, failure, experience, focus and vision. This journey starts with the formal fundamentals of art and design. The beginning of any creative process starts with a sketch, a re-presentation, a translation of the abstract into the actual, an effort to physically envision an idea held in ones mind. No matter the path of artistic evolution, the clarity of the initial vision is translated through a combination of skill and experience and a willingness to be open and vulnerable, which is directly related to the magnificence of the end result.
Visual art is a language and like any other field of study one must understand the fundamental structure before moving to complex comprehension and fluid communication. Visual literacy begins in drawing with direct, objective observation, i.e. “seeing”. It holds the utmost importance technically and metaphorically. It is the initial platform that I use in introductory courses to launch all the other formal elements of art and design. Students can understand proportion, line, composition, gesture, shape, light, perspective, space, movement, color, craft and content just through objective observation. This process takes discipline and patience; therefore, students also learn invaluable character building lessons about focused concentration and self-awareness throughout the success and failure process. As this technical foundation is being built it is also imperative to integrate contemporary and art historical images and references into class discussions. These beginning discussions can validate the importance of the mastery of technical skills being learned, as well as reinforce the understanding of abstraction of imagery and integration of meaning throughout art history.
My in-class lectures and drawing demonstrations are often discussion based because beginning students should be encouraged to ask questions about the boundaries of technique, medium, image and intention. It is okay to ask why. Why are we doing this? Open inquiry leads to experimentation and independent thinking, which should also be encouraged from the start; assuming a high level of discipline is maintained. A spirit of exploration is an imperative partner to technical virtuosity and should become second nature to advanced students as they learn how to interrogate their own work about the specificity of content as it relates to the evolution of their working process. In advanced classes, I encourage students to use in-class studio time to be ambitious, to push past their technical comfort zone and to experiment with formal elements as well as the diversity of the medium and technique at hand. They are then able to take what they learn and integrate it into outside work as it relates to complexity of concept, refinement of finish and presentation.
As students move forward into advanced technical and cognitive courses, the breadth of this conversation should expand to include a more complex and refined semiotic dissection of the formal arrangement and technical execution. This visual deconstruction is inserted into in class demonstrations, assignment presentation and critique discussions to promote awareness of how every detail of visual information can be processed historically, psychologically, or philosophically. The reiteration of visual rhetoric helps clarify and broaden the perspective of how ideas and imagery connect with an audience, ultimately informing and aiding the student in efforts to communicate through their own work.
At the same time as conducting external research, students should also be encouraged to search through their internal dialogue. Through techniques such as brainstorming, threading and other processes of radiant thinking, they can generate ideas that are authentic to their experiences and interests, which are the source of valuable self-motivation. These processes also allow the student to learn how to translate abstract concepts, such as emotion, into written language; which, in-turn, ease the discussion of sensitive subject matter and create detail of articulation, ergo image. Studio and Thesis courses should encourage students to continue to remain open minded: embrace chance and change, take purposeful risks, problem solve, research, and develop layered, authentic presence within an overall body of work. As the instructor, one of the primary objectives in these advanced classes is to listen to the students. It is not the instructor’s role to come up with solutions for their work, but instead to listen long enough, and ask enough questions, until it becomes clear what the specifics of the content focus are. Intense, patient listening then becomes a learned skill, through the example given.
Graduate study continues with an even wider range of experimentation, research, questioning and analysis within visual language to sophisticate imagery and elaborate conversation. Content and process should fully cross boundaries and bounce back in order to enrich technical exploration and thoroughly sift through conceptual discoveries throughout multiple works. Full motivation is placed on the students shoulders, allowing them even more artistic autonomy and the highest standards of expectation when it comes to the production, quality and exhibition of their work. Their experience should consist of a full niche immersion into the professional working artist community and a prolific exhaustion of their studio and academic access.
Group critique is a constant, essential, and dare I say, one of my favorite parts of the classroom experience from the very beginning to the most advanced level. As the instructor, on any level of study, it provides the opportunity to reinforce objective visual inquiry, reference related contemporary and art historical examples, point out successful and unsuccessful technical execution and discuss the effectiveness of content. For the student it demonstrates the invaluable skill of listening, in general, but specifically to relevant suggestions, whether those suggestions are from myself, fellow classmates or other instructors. Critique lets the student know better than any other method how well they are independently executing their technique and ideas. Not only does it provide a chance for students to deal with possible contrasting points of view, but it also gives them the opportunity to speak about their work. Oratory presentation develops a visual, theoretical and conceptual vocabulary. This absorption of conversation and language development is increasingly important as it adds to the necessary growth of sophisticated writing skills. It also creates a sense of community as it inevitably stirs up discussion and provides a safe place to practice discourse.
In addition to the academic information I organize and present in the classroom, my most significant contribution is sincere enthusiasm. It is my experience that learning is about genuine connection. I learned a long time ago that this is something that cannot be faked and classroom instruction, as well as successful artwork, is about clear, authentic communication. I feel more alive in the classroom than anywhere else because it teaches me to bring all of me. I share my thoughts and reflections. I expect and request mutual respect and safety. I am brutally honest. I let loose my sense of humor. I show my own work. I boast about my accomplishments. I reveal my flaws. I allow myself to be vulnerable. I let my students into my heart. I tell them how I feel. I listen to how they feel. I look beyond the surface. No topic is off limits. I allow myself to just…be…me. The more I commit to wholeheartedness within myself, the more my students commit to their work. We make great work…and we have a great time doing it.
