Teaching philosophy

I believe that the written, visual, and performing arts are interdisciplinary at their core. Connections between the arts and other disciplines, including the sciences, are often more inextricably linked than discipline-specific courses explore. While essential for the building of fundamental knowledge, this material should not be isolated and compartmentalized;  opportunity to explore the connections between genres and disciplines is the fundamental goal of a liberal arts education. In an institution devoted to excellence in the visual and performing arts, it is imperative that students are mentored to develop an understanding of artistic movements including the social, historical, and political landscapes that were responsible for their emergence. I encourage students to learn and address the specific conventions in their own area of artistic practice while simultaneously exploring the corresponding movements in other disciplines and relating those perspectives to their work. My goal is to assist pupils in growing their knowledge into solid understanding the topic at hand, with a sense of broader connections that topic has to their field of artistic endeavor, and to the larger world. It is hoped that this becomes a fundamental part of their psyche and they emerge from courses able to make further application and investigation under their own motivation.  

Aware that I am often viewed as a specialist in my area of practice, I affirm that successful teaching is rooted in wide-ranging fundamental knowledge, and that specialization without attention to these fundamentals is stunted. Thus, I believe a major part of my work is helping students develop this core knowledge, and finding application for what they learn in classroom environs in their applied field. This partners with an ongoing responsibility of calling them to heightened levels of craftsmanship in that artistic application. I affirm that students struggling with particular concepts in their own field of study can use interdisciplinary exploration of a concept to address these deficiencies and turn them into strengths.  

I believe that each student’s learning styles is unique and that care may need to be taken to evaluate and modify work to fit unique needs. I regularly line out goals and expectations at the term’s endpoints and after major course events. With these goals clearly stated and regularly evaluated, I work as a trusted partner with my students while addressing faults and technical deficiencies in an exploratory and convivial environment. By building and maintaining the student’s sense of ownership over their work and encouraging frequent performance application, they are guided to sound fundamental techniques of exploration and expression - allowing them to blossom as artists. Nurturing these students through material with application to their artistic aspirations is the essential goal of my classroom work.   

In all cases, classroom or studio, I strongly believe that my role is essentially as a steward. I have been charged with the temporary care and growth of person, and my goal is to send each graduating student away with facility of technique and dexterity of thought that allows them to be well-rounded and intuitive thinkers - ones able to pursue a wide variety of professional outcomes.