Teaching Philosophy
My primary goal when teaching is to foster a sense of boundless curiosity in my students. I strive to develop an environment where mutual respect is balanced with informed and thorough critique, providing a secure space in which my students feel supported as they challenge both traditional artistic boundaries and their own self-imposed restrictions. The digital art classes I’ve been teaching are populated by students with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, creating a need for some concentration on establishing a common language suited to our field of study.
Though technical training is a key aspect of the courses I teach, I also emphasize the development of each student’s capacity for conceptual growth. Through exposure to both seminal works and that of contemporary artists, and frequent readings dealing with relevant critical theory and art history, I balance the focus on technical skills with increased perspectives of the diverse world young artists are facing. I encourage and often require my students to inform their work with research in disciplines outside of their major. In all of my classes I cultivate a heightened awareness of our local surroundings, attempting to help the students become more aware of their own cultural biases and assumptions regarding their audience.
I also show my classes the art works that I am involved in. I feel that this helps the class to recognize that I am an active artist, going through many of the same difficulties and challenges facing them as they submit project proposals, meet creative deadlines and hone their skills in the various programs we tackle each semester. In critiques, I am completely honest but encourage debate and explanation of intentions and difficulties. Overall, I aim to maintain a classroom environment where my students feel free to explore their visions without boundaries, and become equally capable of understanding and articulating the context in which they are beginning to express themselves as artists.
STUDENT WORK SAMPLES
TIME BASED student work samples (other than the 3 small files at the bottom of this page) are available on dvd upon request.
WEBSITES built by students of my Web Media Production class can be found here:
http://www.veryemily.com/kaile/final/index.html
http://spoilers.bros-czap.com/index.html
http://www.sarahgirosky.com/
http://www.andrewkuhar.com/home.html
http://josefjosef.com/index.html
http://www.ivanbakula.com/
WEBSITES of some of the BFA candidates whose committees I am currently serving on include:
http://zaklong.com/
http://josefjosef.com/index.html
http://www.veryemily.com/kaile/final/index.html
2D WORK SAMPLES:
Synthesized Meaning Project
An exploration of the communication
impact of recombining and reprossessing found and created images.
Liberated Page Project
An exploration of the potential of digital
manipulation of type, to liberate us from traditional methods
of typography and design.
Interactive Voices
An exploration of the meaningful integration
of sound, movement, and interactivity.
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