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Teaching Philosophy
During the past few years I have developed a teaching style which focuses a great deal on providing individual attention for every student. While it is certainly necessary to provide examples and demonstrations, I feel that a more potent and lasting impression is made on students when they are allowed to discover their own paths to solutions. I therefore believe it is necessary to invest a great deal of time and care into getting to know each student's strengths and weaknesses so I may better guide their technical development without dampening the student's individuality or creativity.
General principles:
- When a student asks me a question I often prefer to answer with questions of my own. Questions meant to gently prod the student toward the answer they are seeking. In this way I feel that the answer is understood rather than merely memorized for later regurgitation.
- I want to nurture the growth of young artists, not produce clones of myself.
- When a student is frustrated with a problem I present the problem in a new way which will clarify the situation for them. I also cite examples, where applicable, from that student's own work or from art history which will help point out a method toward a solution.
- I discourage students from comparing their own growth with that of their fellow classmates. They are going to do it anyway, but if it is fostered in the classroom I feel it a can lead to frustration based on erroneous perceptions: Few students are objective enough to take into account the diverse levels of skill and experience which each student brings to a class.
- I believe in practice.
- There is no substitute for Life Drawing. There is always something new to be learned from drawing the figure.
- I believe in jarring students out of complacent thinking and approaches to work. I have often seen students enter a class with strong work, but then allow themselves to coast along at a comfortable plateau never really challenging themselves and therefore never really growing. Skills become taken for granted, and sensibilities become aesthetic dogma. This I do not tolerate. I instead try to show the student that growth is not merely a process of attaining a finite set of quantifiable skills, but a dynamic process which need never stop as long as an artist is alive.
- I think it is important to constantly encourage the students to push themselves. This doesn't mean merely assigning a heavy workload. I encourage the students to view each assignment as an opportunity to build new skills and perceptions while sharpening old ones.
- I encourage young artists to visit galleries and museums, and to study art history and contemporary art theory so they may understand the roots of their artwork as well as the potential significance of their work when viewed in a contemporary context.
- I strive to make students work hard and think hard both in and out of the class.
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