Teaching Philosophy: 

Imparting an understanding for the historical narrative of art, and cultivating passion for one’s engagement and place in it, are essential components in supporting the development of a conscious artist that strives to be an active participant in our contemporary world. It is important to empower students to embody the process of their own artistic growth and to pursue, with self-driven passion, their personal creative direction. 

The central components that I utilize in my class that enable students to successfully develop include: close observation, collection, reflection, and evaluation. These tools function effectively as a core to build the groundwork of formal visual and conceptual training while beginning to solidify a strong ongoing artistic development in more advanced students. Also, central to my approach is ensuring that my curriculum supports inclusion and cross-cultural perspectives. This is evident through the artists that are presented and critically analyzed in lectures as well as how individual students are encouraged to create and discuss work during critiques. 

The ability to closely observe is at the core of what we do as artists and is often a critical skill that remains under-developed. This skill begins with simply looking and it develops into visually studying the surrounding world. In my class, this skill exists as a fundamental formal tool, which provides the basis of conceptual strength that gives an artist with the ability to decide what to focus on in their work and how to identify what others have chosen to communicate. Understanding what an artist chooses to give their visual time to and observe, whether an idea or form, is a key component in artistic development. 

We spend our lives collecting. The act of collecting plays a large role in the classroom experience. Collection is an essential process of observing, choosing, keeping, and letting go. This process of conscious choice is a reoccurring theme throughout my class and extends itself to multiple mediums. Students are asked to maintain awareness of and actively engage in what they observe, both the visual and non-visual, and to then collect and create thoughtfully. Having insight into what one consciously chooses to observe and collect is pivotal to understanding oneself as an artist. In a developing artist, this process of observation and collection reaches a complex level that forms the basis for critical thinking and artistic analytical skill. 

Being able to reflect on and evaluate one’s own work and the work of others is also important. This is developed through the study of both historical and contemporary artists, as well as, through the evaluation of peer work. My challenge as an instructor is not only to deliver the techniques necessary to be able to draw and paint competently, but to guide students in a direction that will develop a self-awareness about the choices they are making as artists and the ability to understand the choices of other artists. One of the ways that I achieve this by creating an open and accepting environment where unique perspectives and stories are embraced. Supporting students in their individual artistic pursuits and ensuring that artwork from artists that represent different cultures, beliefs, orientations, and backgrounds are presented is a priority in all of my classes. This is the beginning of building a framework in which a student can understand their work in relationship to the historical narrative of art, providing a basis of comprehension about the role they and other artists inhabit in the contemporary world of art. 

I encourage students to reach beyond and begin to understand their personal and conceptual development in the visual world. I have observed students ending the semester possessing a deep sense of pride and excitement about their growth.