Teaching philosophy

Artists are thinkers and cultural producers. I aspire for my students to be highly competent in both areas. Visual Art students require a curriculum strong in the technical mechanics related to the varieties of media and the ideation process to explore conceptual agendas behind their work. I create an atmosphere where students feel free to take risks without the fear of failure and participate in a meaningful, respectful exchange of ideas. I use a student-centered approach to teaching, getting to know my students individually to provide them with content relative to culture and lived experiences, facilitating growth in cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Using my classroom as the third teacher, I aspire to create meaningful, memorable student experiences.

In artmaking, the most critical question is "why?" When addressing the daunting question of "why" with my students, I utilize scaffolding to create stepping stones to incrementally increase students' contemplation on why they make specific decisions. Starting small, students consider the motivations behind their technical choices, such as choosing a particular paintbrush. As students become more comfortable reflecting on their artistic choices, they delve into meta-cognition, considering the thought process behind their decisions technically and conceptually while exploring how their work fits into the timeline of historical and contemporary practice.

I maintain a continuous exchange with my students while they work, making formative assessments throughout the artmaking process. Critique is essential to artistic growth; I model constructive criticism for my students and encourage engagement in respectful and meaningful discussions. I summatively assess student work based on a rubric designed to balance openness and specificity, communicating expectations clearly and effectively.

I am a practicing artist, and I analyze my own artmaking process in depth to translate and demonstrate it to my students in an age-appropriate manner. Whether it is how an artist holds a pencil differently when they draw vs. write or explain my cognitive methodology in ideation, through my extensive studio art background, I effectively transfer the artmaking process to my students and find inspiration for my artwork in everyday teaching experiences.