Because I believe all people are creative but not everyone feels empowered to create, I teach painting and drawing as an open, inclusive and accessible process designed to draw out the potential in everyone.
My goal is to encourage and enable students’ artistic explorations. My approach is to develop students’ visual literacy—including the ability to analyze and reverse engineer artwork—as well as the material, technical and conceptual competencies necessary to set and achieve their goals. While my pedagogy is grounded in perception, which I think is the strongest foundation for any painting or drawing practice, I focus on helping students develop their personal vision instead of teaching them the “correct” way to make art. I meet students where they are and help them get to where they want to be.
Students learn best when they feel supported, encouraged and respected. For that reason, the studio-classroom should be a positive community built on curiosity, collegiality and trust. I encourage mutual support through the exchange of ideas and constructive feedback. I also value the diversity of students’ identities, experiences and perspectives. Inclusion is fundamental to how I teach and to how I facilitate critiques and group discussions—an approach that has proven effective over 10 years of teaching students of diverse backgrounds, ages and skill levels.
My goal is to encourage and enable students’ artistic explorations. My approach is to develop students’ visual literacy—including the ability to analyze and reverse engineer artwork—as well as the material, technical and conceptual competencies necessary to set and achieve their goals. While my pedagogy is grounded in perception, which I think is the strongest foundation for any painting or drawing practice, I focus on helping students develop their personal vision instead of teaching them the “correct” way to make art. I meet students where they are and help them get to where they want to be.
Students learn best when they feel supported, encouraged and respected. For that reason, the studio-classroom should be a positive community built on curiosity, collegiality and trust. I encourage mutual support through the exchange of ideas and constructive feedback. I also value the diversity of students’ identities, experiences and perspectives. Inclusion is fundamental to how I teach and to how I facilitate critiques and group discussions—an approach that has proven effective over 10 years of teaching students of diverse backgrounds, ages and skill levels.