_Teaching Philosophy:
I am not sure what percentage of learning is the responsibility of the teacher and what percentage is the responsibility of the student, however I am sure that either role is both active and reactive. I am active in setting the initial tone for a class; I am reactive in doing my best to respond to a student’s individual needs. I consider the classroom to be an environment that can facilitate learning and interaction. As a teacher I feel a strong responsibility to establish and maintain a classroom of openness and community. Aside from community and openness, I maintain a classroom of safety. Safety not only means proper use of equipment, materials, and facilities, but also exists as an environment in which students feel free to express ideas and engage in discussion. I believe that inclusive dialogue makes any classroom experience richer by challenging assumptions and ideas, especially when it comes to art.
As a teacher, I strive to create an experience at the moment that class is happening while simultaneously sharing in any insight I have from experience gained as a student, teacher, or professional artist. The experience I create in the classroom is more than simply delivering prepared information to my students, I am responsive to the directions my students take, seeking out and exposing them to a variety of contemporary artists and ideas. This layered sharing and creating of experience drives my teaching, professional, and studio commitment as all of these aspects of my career feed into increasing my effectiveness as a teacher. As a result, the more active I am in my research, the more experience I have to draw from as a teacher.
By accessing the full range of my own personal experience I try to meet students where they are at in their own education and development, which allows me to engage students of a wide range of backgrounds. Rather than encouraging students to consider my own choices in development as an artist, I strive to help students identify the full range of potential choices as they navigate their own education and build their own archive of experience and knowledge.
My teaching is a balance of technique and idea. I stress the importance of being engaged with contemporary art and ideas through PowerPoint lectures, research based assignments, critique, and selected readings while demonstrating technique in the form of ceramic process, woodworking, metal fabrication, video, performance, and installation. By providing my students with an introduction to a wide range of sculptural media, and a wide variety artists and ideas, I am able to focus on the relationship between form and content, and to encourage students to consider the multi-disciplinary approach applied to most contemporary art.
I do not teach ceramics, sculpture, drawing, or foundations courses as exclusive disciplines in art. My ability and approach to teaching any of these classes has been rooted in contextualizing process, material, and concept within the larger contemporary art dialogue.
I feel young as a teacher and an artist, and I hope this feeling will never pass. I am committed to maintaining a lifelong reconsideration and reevaluation of my teaching and professional practices. This pursuit requires an open mind and constant critical consideration with current and future students.
I am not sure what percentage of learning is the responsibility of the teacher and what percentage is the responsibility of the student, however I am sure that either role is both active and reactive. I am active in setting the initial tone for a class; I am reactive in doing my best to respond to a student’s individual needs. I consider the classroom to be an environment that can facilitate learning and interaction. As a teacher I feel a strong responsibility to establish and maintain a classroom of openness and community. Aside from community and openness, I maintain a classroom of safety. Safety not only means proper use of equipment, materials, and facilities, but also exists as an environment in which students feel free to express ideas and engage in discussion. I believe that inclusive dialogue makes any classroom experience richer by challenging assumptions and ideas, especially when it comes to art.
As a teacher, I strive to create an experience at the moment that class is happening while simultaneously sharing in any insight I have from experience gained as a student, teacher, or professional artist. The experience I create in the classroom is more than simply delivering prepared information to my students, I am responsive to the directions my students take, seeking out and exposing them to a variety of contemporary artists and ideas. This layered sharing and creating of experience drives my teaching, professional, and studio commitment as all of these aspects of my career feed into increasing my effectiveness as a teacher. As a result, the more active I am in my research, the more experience I have to draw from as a teacher.
By accessing the full range of my own personal experience I try to meet students where they are at in their own education and development, which allows me to engage students of a wide range of backgrounds. Rather than encouraging students to consider my own choices in development as an artist, I strive to help students identify the full range of potential choices as they navigate their own education and build their own archive of experience and knowledge.
My teaching is a balance of technique and idea. I stress the importance of being engaged with contemporary art and ideas through PowerPoint lectures, research based assignments, critique, and selected readings while demonstrating technique in the form of ceramic process, woodworking, metal fabrication, video, performance, and installation. By providing my students with an introduction to a wide range of sculptural media, and a wide variety artists and ideas, I am able to focus on the relationship between form and content, and to encourage students to consider the multi-disciplinary approach applied to most contemporary art.
I do not teach ceramics, sculpture, drawing, or foundations courses as exclusive disciplines in art. My ability and approach to teaching any of these classes has been rooted in contextualizing process, material, and concept within the larger contemporary art dialogue.
I feel young as a teacher and an artist, and I hope this feeling will never pass. I am committed to maintaining a lifelong reconsideration and reevaluation of my teaching and professional practices. This pursuit requires an open mind and constant critical consideration with current and future students.