TEACHING PHILOSOPHY - A Practical and Conceptual Approach
Teaching is a natural extension of my community-based art. I enjoy it immensely. I am inspired by the process of identifying individual students’ aptitudes and assisting them to focus those aptitudes through their art. I encourage each student to explore their own essential matrix of form, and to objectively observe their own process of thinking and making. I guide students to navigate contemporary theory, and to look deeply into the history and social movements that influence the artists of the past, and their own work.
An art education should effectively prepare the artist not only to successfully make art but also to survive (and thrive) in the world of galleries, project proposals, and grant writing. To that end, I challenge students in both their creative and professional process by designing “real world” assignments that require clear, concise written proposals of ideas, with drawings, models, and documentation of supporting ideas. I teach them to ask the question: “What is art for?” - raising such related issues as public and private space, personal and political content, and the artist’s role in society.
I am interested in a practical and conceptual approach to core curriculum, where students can develop technical expertise as well as conceptual maturity. In Foundational classes, I create assignments and presentations of artists’ work to help students experience the intrinsic qualities of the various traditional materials. Practical hands-on skills and building techniques are thoroughly integrated into the conceptual frameworks and professional standards that I emphasis. My assignments guide students to develop discipline, to trust their creative impulse, to recognize originality, and to build a solid understanding in the principles of good design.
Drawing is the common language that allows people of all disciplines to communicate their ideas in an expressive and visual manner. Having begun my own art career with a BFA in Drawing and Painting, I share an intimate knowledge of mark making with my students. I teach drawing as the most basic, immediate, and direct expression in visual art; and as a portal through which to enter all other mediums, expanding dimensional space, from two, to three-dimensional work, as well as the design of time-based elements.
From this rich foundation, I teach Sculpture as a means for developing a personal art form that explores the fulcrum between conceptual initiative and material invention. I encourage my students to create work with respect to the language of form, as well as from contemporary theoretical thinking. Practical skill sessions are balanced by informational presentations to stimulate an active discourse. Within this context, the architecture of form is examined as a history of human values, of societal symbols, and as an inquiry into the nature of beauty.
I orient my students with in-depth lectures on the history of Sculpture, immersing them in historical documentation, and seminal writings. I encourage students to explore the technical and aesthetic qualities of each material. I support a strong critical dialogue, raising issues of structure, content, presence, of viewer engagement, of the approach and the attitude toward the making, as well as the craft itself. Exploration and fresh thinking are facilitated in my classes through my unique and supportive critique style.
Students are trained to pay particular attention to site and circumstance in relationship to the use of any medium. I teach that site is an integral component of a piece, sometimes the catalyst for a piece, and in its purest form, site is the piece. I teach that the act of installing can be a performance, and the residue of performance can be what completes an installation sculpture. Drawing on my background as an interdisciplinary artist, I de-mystify cross-media strategies, empowering students to freely move between mediums that most accurately reflect their ideas. I use my own work as a “laboratory specimen”; we study the process of thinking and making that goes into installation. For Example, my work entitled “Social Structures”, involved the making of a “building” inside of a building; life casting sculptural elements; drawing and game playing as performance; and video as projected, time-based painting.
In advanced study, I introduce art works in which the viewer/participant is involved in an interactive exchange. I call this type of work Social Sculpture. Through class presentations and assignments, we explore work that includes interactive situations, community collaborations, social/political interactions, and current electronic interactive interfaces. I teach my students to see these works with respect to the sculptural qualities inherent in work, as well as the theoretical concerns.
I teach video as a means conveying sound, light, movement, and texture within the context of Sculpture study. We explore the possibilities and limitations of the medium through in-class demonstrations, assignments, and documentation of sculptural works that use video. We delve deep into the nuts and bolts, covering video production, editing, projection, and photo graphics, while remaining focused on the issues most pertinent to spatial arts.
An important influence on my art and teaching comes from my extensive research in Somatic Psychology and Movement. I teach the artist to enter more deeply into the experience of the body, to focus and build creative energy through actions, and to make art from what unfolds These body-based investigations assists in a deeper understanding of the strengths and problems inherent in performance art: the poetics of gesture, the development of personae, relationship to the viewer, presence, and the body as an element within a piece – as that which sculpts the space during a performance. This work acts as a balance to those artists working primarily in technology-based forms.
In summary, my teaching philosophy reflects a deep valuing of the discourse that is possible within the academic environment; and I share this passion and enthusiasm with my students. Within the context of each class, I encourage students to develop a global and cross-cultural awareness in relationship to art history, theory, and criticism. My teaching emphasizes a socially responsive view of art and the human story, as well as a keen observation of the self and the systems in which we live.