Teaching Philosophy
My goal as a teacher of art is to create opportunities for the development of representational skills, formal understanding, critical thinking and historical awareness. In my observational drawing classes, an emphasis on gesture lays the groundwork for the development of form and space. Students work intensively on building tactile form and the illusion of space on a two-dimensional surface. They learn from art historical sources as they work on composition, color, value and spatial organization. I show students sources from film, design, and contemporary photography for assignments exploring composition, lighting, color schemes and narrative.
Students in intermediate and advanced drawing classes examine the technical and conceptual possibilities of drawing in contemporary art. My current drawing course introduces students to cubism, collage, abstraction, process, pop art, appropriation and interactive art. Studio projects are supplemented by readings, research, student presentations, and visiting artists.
In beginning painting students start with observational paintings using value, limited palettes, and full color. They learn color theory and apply it, for example, in a pixilated self-portrait project, where for each grid unit they mix a new color using only primaries. They fill up a sketchbook of color studies of historical paintings. Final projects introduce invention and manipulation of observational, photo-based, and historical sources.
In advanced painting students continue technical development while formulating meaningful content through independent studio projects. Much of the learning happens in the areas of studio practice and work ethic, as students become responsible for their practice, materials, and research. Students collect visual sources, investigate artistic influences, experiment with materials, solve technical problems, and respond to critical discourse. Readings, discussions, lectures, critiques, and field trips to exhibitions supplement studio projects. For their senior projects, students complete a body of work for exhibition, write artist statements and resumes, and document their work.
With the graduate-level artist, I am most concerned with one’s intellectual clarity, engagement with contemporary art and criticism, and with the impact of the work on the viewer. I work with graduate students individually in independent studies and critiques, and collectively through graduate seminars and group critiques. I actively organize trips to museums, galleries, and art fairs and work to introduce to students to artists, critics, and ideas that are relevant to their research.