My decision on medium is as diverse as my skill-set, depending on the needs of the work, but I will shift focus to oil on canvas. Inspired by the interactive potential of optical illusion, this work explores an oily surface to stimulate the gaze, penetrate the optic nerve, and gratify the eye. The eye is coaxed to explore the varying rhythms of chaotic strokes that simultaneously define a figure and fragment it’s ground. The acceleration of marks and gestures arouse a biomorphic form that is not entirely isolated from it’s environment: emblematic of the interconnectedness of an individual and their environment. The physical expression of paint, with the use of cadmium red, embodies humanistic pursuits of wellness, but even more so: bodily encounters.
Wassily Kandinsky poses the question, in his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art:
“Is everything untouchable spiritual?”
My work secularizes the untouchable, by withdrawing the spiritual and aspirational goals to transcend the body. There is tension between the extroversion of color and the introversion of imagery. The entire length of this tension is stroked by the gaze. The work finds solace in the traumatic, the inside, and the hidden. By laying eyes and minds on the bodily expression of paint; the work can resound within a claustrophobic atmosphere. The eye cannot comfortably rest in this extroverted biological space, because the pathways of escape are out of reach. The urgency in the expression of paint guides the eye to lean back and relax the body into this highly anxious Hot Spot.
Teaching Philosophy
Art Education should be a foundation in which to develop a student’s ideas about the greater world. My class is founded on the idea of a studio community that is supportive and balanced. I believe that the most efficient way to engage students is to let them take charge of their own learning. I expect my students to use their life experiences as content in their work. I will implement interdisciplinary strategies to keep students working in a variety of mediums while they simultaneously pursue their identities. I will guide students to develop their own visual language through a variety of exercises that utilize “the body” as a tool for production, and “the mind” as an infinite source of content for the work. When students start showing consistency in independent styles, I will facilitate their research in order to find a correlation between their work and the work within historical movements in the past that might not rely on traditional forms of “Fine Art.”
I do not believe that the traditional mediums of Art, i.e. Painting, Sculpture, and Photography, are accessible to all students; Therefore, it is my responsibility to be flexible and adapt to the demands of each individual student. My classroom will focus on experimentation and collaborative experience. I will mandate that students take inventory of their strengths and fears alike and I will facilitate the development of their physical abilities in art, personal values, and social growth. Depending on my class’s demands, I will adjust my pedagogy to reflect the requests of my students; I owe it to them to listen to their needs and adjust a curriculum in response. I will create a space that allows for the exploration of making and thinking, and I will mentor each student’s abilities in process, craftsmanship, and execution as they pursue their varying interests in the subject matter.
A large portion of my teaching will make sure that students have the freedom to pursue a range of materials as they begin to find artistic influences in their lives. Wherever the influence might come from, I will be an optimistic advocate for their choice in subject matter. I believe that it is within this individuality that artists can share contemporary ideas, reflect on history, and advance our individual cultures and our greater society. I expect my students to be ambitious, and their ambition, as well as participation, will be the foundation of their grading rubric. Through support, open-mindedness, kindness, conversation, rigor, and laughter, I will encourage an environment that is free for personal expression.
Technical skill will always be balanced by conceptual knowledge. I will structure each assignment from a conceptual standpoint that can be completed by each student in a range of mediums and varying processes. This goal is to get the students excited about thinking about the work first, which I believe is the driving force for learning a new skill. Different materials carry different connotations, and after every assignment, as a group, we will critique the work; I will ask every student to ask questions about their work, and I will facilitate the development of critical thinking, as well as public speaking, for students to learn how to verbally describe their creative process. Advanced students will be held to a higher standard, and will be encouraged to develop a professional presence online where they start blogging about, and posting, their work.
I feel that it is my responsibility to demonstrate that learning happens in various facets of our lives, not just in the classroom. I will demand that students engage in a combination of online spaces, museums, galleries, and the good ol’ outdoors. Promoting community and collaboration is the most important component of my pedagogy. I will encourage students to meet artists in the community that reflect their personal interests, demographics, and styles. I will host an array of artists in the community to come into our classroom and share their professional practice to the class. I am encouraged by the collaboration with other faculty members, as well as students, in order to encourage new ideas and concepts. My teaching is informed by my interdisciplinary studies in a range of mediums, as well as Art History. With this knowledge, I can assure that my students are receiving the best possible education I can offer. I strive to be well-versed in the current developments within the field of Art, across many cultures, and I aim to dismantle student’s conceptions of what “Art” is.
“Education is the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
– Paulo Freire
