TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

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I approach teaching with the mindset that instruction should not be unidirectional; rather, I believe learning is a more engaging and rewarding process when instruction operates as a collaboration between teacher and student in pursuit of mutual discovery. As such, rather than merely serving as an authoritative source of knowledge, I approach my role as instructor with the goal of assisting and working alongside students in the development of their critical thinking, curiosity, skill acquisition, and self-expression. A good teacher is a facilitator of questions--meaningful questions that nudge students toward a deeper engagement with the world around them. Because learning does not start or stop with the confines of the classroom, I also believe that genuine compassion and human connection are equally as crucial as one's technical proficiency and knowledgeability as an instructor, especially in studio art. This has become all the more obvious in my experience teaching during a pandemic. Ultimately, in an image-dominated world, I am passionate about offering instruction in the visual arts not only because it gives students the tools to craft their own images from an informed and self-conscious position, and thus helps them wield visual currencies to greater effect, but also because art can exist simultaneously as a space for affect, criticality, philosophical inquiry, communication, and, perhaps most significantly, empathy. In times of trauma, tumultuous presents, and precarious futures, I believe emphasizing visual art's existence at this nexus is imperative.