Philosophy

I believe that everyone has the potential to be an artist – to communicate and make meaning of our experiences through artistic expression. It is part of our heritage and our innate capacity as human beings.

Artists are curious; they have finely tuned senses, and an exquisite sense of detail. They make connections between disparate objects, and bring hidden patterns and relationships into sharp relief. I want my students to develop all of these artistic capacities, and to discover their own individual strengths and sensibilities in the process. Art education must be about more than technical skills and know how…  It must involve a personal connection with the creative impulse that has been the mark of our ancestry since the earliest cave painters. A strict regimen of isolated skills and art historic facts may soon be forgotten, but this human connection to art will grow and deepen into a lifelong artistic worldview.

Creating open-ended opportunities for students to experiment, explore, and make choices about the direction of their work nurtures self-discovery and confidence by capitalizing on students’ intrinsic motivation and areas of strength. I believe that artistic conventions are most effectively learned when they are in the service of this expanding confidence and self-knowledge as an artist and human being.

Freedom of student choice must be fused with the discipline of artistic habits of mind: observing, reflecting, and developing craftsmanship. It is a conscious awareness of the thinking processes involved in art making that students will be able to apply to other disciplines and areas of life long after the artworks they have produced are gone.

Our students must be exposed to a wide range of artistic styles and media, and be able to engage with the questions being posed at the frontiers of art and technology. Yet, they must hold on to the timeless aesthetic skills and principles that have been refined by artists for thousands of years, and glean wisdom from the fading visual traditions of indigenous cultures around the globe.

These are lofty and challenging aims, often at odds with one another in the limited scope and time of an art class. I strive to make the most of every opportunity I am given to bring them into balance in the most appropriate fashion for each student who walks through my door. For art is neither enrichment nor an exploratory diversion. I believe it is what binds us and makes us most fully human.