TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

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As an instructor, it is my primary goal to equip students with the skills to develop a meaningful and professional artistic practice.  At the foundational level, this primarily means access to clear, concrete learning objectives so their ideas are never held back by technical limitations. Beyond these foundational technical concerns, however, I believe a professional practice evolves out of two key elements: playfulness and awareness.

 

Playfulness embodies the idea that a professional practice is not a single fixed thing. Instead, it is an accumulation of experimentation, research, and excitement unencumbered by a fear of failure. When it becomes clear to me that a student is comfortable in a particular medium or way of working, I encourage them with new challenges, reminding them that it is only when we are uncomfortable that we are able to evolve. An example of this at a foundational drawing level is a figure in motion lesson. During this lesson, I ask the students to draw the figure in less than 4 minutes, several times on one page, keeping the position and size of the figure constant with the surrounding context. The figure and the objects move and overlap and the drawings become messy and confusing. I tell the students to embrace the chaos, refusing them the chance to erase and find clarity again. The resulting drawings are energetic in a way that could not have been achieved without these unfamiliar and uncomfortable circumstances. Beyond the foundation level, I help students be able to identify when they are over-relying on a particular skill.  To prevent the work from becoming stagnant or predictable, I assist them in finding ways to foil that skill and reintroduce freshness. Regardless of circumstance, I make it my goal to help students engage in work that will surprise them.  

 

The second part of a meaningful practice is awareness.  Awareness means understanding both the art context in which the student’s art resides and the general context outside of the art world. I emphasize the importance of studying other contemporary or traditional artists, building these lessons into my curriculum and advising the students that they keep a “top five” list of researched artists that is always changing. The only way to advance the field as a whole is to learn from others in that field, always seeking a new perspective by building off of the old ones. Further, I help each student expand their thinking outside of the art world, pointing out that the visual aspect of a work is often just the means of expression for a larger conversation. Therefore, research and knowledge about both past and currently practicing artists, as well as personal, global, and universal issues, are essential components of a meaningful practice.

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