Teaching Portfolio
I have been teaching art classes since graduating from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2014. I have the privilege to teach throughout the Philadelphia Region including: PAFA, Cerulean Arts and Perkins Center for the Arts. The class stills below are from past courses in plein air landscape, alla prima still life in watercolor and experimental , mixed media drawing. It's my pleasure to teach a wide range of students, from beginner to advanced, working age to mature adults and college age youth. As I build this portfolio, stay tuned for more images and information.
Teaching Statement
As a teacher, it is my goal to provide a learning environment which encourages each pupil to learn, grow and become confident in their knowledge and judgment.
My art teaching philosophy is founded on 10 Rules for Students and Teachers by Sister Corita Kent, often attributed to John Cage. From those steps it is the teacher’s obligation to pull everything out of their students and allow students to pull everything out their teachers. Building upon solid foundations, my classes seek to help each student find their own learning goals and make them feel comfortable in their abilities….especially in the ability to fail. By failing, we can learn. The worse situation is one in which a student is terrified to do anything because of the fear of failure. Nothing is a mistake. When a student is comfortable in their learning environment, they open up to experimentation, gain experience and feel free to work. Joseph Albers told us that it is experience that counts more than filling museums. The job of the teacher is to inform and encourage, the student learns by doing.
Art is many things. It is about reaction, expression, making and discipline. In addition, one component that I stress is seeing. Deep, informative seeing is crucial to the arts, as well as the individual artist. Students must value the skill of observation: looking, discerning and understanding. This looking can inform the student both in and out of class time.
As a teacher, it is my goal to provide a learning environment which encourages each pupil to learn, grow and become confident in their knowledge and judgment.
My art teaching philosophy is founded on 10 Rules for Students and Teachers by Sister Corita Kent, often attributed to John Cage. From those steps it is the teacher’s obligation to pull everything out of their students and allow students to pull everything out their teachers. Building upon solid foundations, my classes seek to help each student find their own learning goals and make them feel comfortable in their abilities….especially in the ability to fail. By failing, we can learn. The worse situation is one in which a student is terrified to do anything because of the fear of failure. Nothing is a mistake. When a student is comfortable in their learning environment, they open up to experimentation, gain experience and feel free to work. Joseph Albers told us that it is experience that counts more than filling museums. The job of the teacher is to inform and encourage, the student learns by doing.
Art is many things. It is about reaction, expression, making and discipline. In addition, one component that I stress is seeing. Deep, informative seeing is crucial to the arts, as well as the individual artist. Students must value the skill of observation: looking, discerning and understanding. This looking can inform the student both in and out of class time.
Still Life I've been teaching alla prima, still life in watercolor for several years. My still life class concentration is on learning drawing fundamentals, how watercolor performs and, with alla prima, painting at one go, to observe closely and develop the confidence to move fast. All my courses focus on color mixing and color theory, based on the work of Joseph Albers and Johannes Itten. My still life set ups focus on color interaction and understanding spatial relationship. Course lengths vary from five to 12 week classes and one or two day workshops. |
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Landscape
In teach landscape painting and drawing. My classes are plein air, outdoors, in the landscape. Mediums used in class are watercolor and pastel. Painting in front of nature, while challenging, is also exciting and exhilarating. As in my still life class, my landscape students also do one complete work in each class. Working fast makes for a loose and vibrant interpretation and allows no time to second guess or put things off for another day.
Color theory underpins my landscape classes, with composition and planning backed up with historical and contemporary examples of master artists. I also concentrate on setting up materials and equipment, to make it easy and comfortable to get outside and paint when and where the individual chooses.
During the course of my landscape classes, I like to point out that being outdoors is itself a creative act. By learning to sit, see and listen, we can gain greater reception of nature and respond to it.The content of the American Landscape Tradition has varied over time and this is also covered in class. In the United States, landscape painting and drawing has been framed to create idealized scenes often linked to national aspiration and to illustrate the concept of beauty and the spiritual from the Transcendentalist tradition. In addition, nature has been presented from the botanically accurate view of the Pre-Raphaelites to a focus for today's growing conversation about the environment and the threats it faces.
In teach landscape painting and drawing. My classes are plein air, outdoors, in the landscape. Mediums used in class are watercolor and pastel. Painting in front of nature, while challenging, is also exciting and exhilarating. As in my still life class, my landscape students also do one complete work in each class. Working fast makes for a loose and vibrant interpretation and allows no time to second guess or put things off for another day.
Color theory underpins my landscape classes, with composition and planning backed up with historical and contemporary examples of master artists. I also concentrate on setting up materials and equipment, to make it easy and comfortable to get outside and paint when and where the individual chooses.
During the course of my landscape classes, I like to point out that being outdoors is itself a creative act. By learning to sit, see and listen, we can gain greater reception of nature and respond to it.The content of the American Landscape Tradition has varied over time and this is also covered in class. In the United States, landscape painting and drawing has been framed to create idealized scenes often linked to national aspiration and to illustrate the concept of beauty and the spiritual from the Transcendentalist tradition. In addition, nature has been presented from the botanically accurate view of the Pre-Raphaelites to a focus for today's growing conversation about the environment and the threats it faces.
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MIxed Media Drawing
Working on the concept of chance from the work of John Cage, this course's goal is to find form through the investigation of material and gesture. Materials used in class include charcoal, paint stick, oil pastel watercolor and acrylic paint. Hand pulled monotype prints are also employed. Students work individually and in group. Examples of artists who work within this tradition are discussed to give guidance and affirmation. The guiding principle for the course is that everything is an experiment, nothing is a failure, experience is the goal.
Working on the concept of chance from the work of John Cage, this course's goal is to find form through the investigation of material and gesture. Materials used in class include charcoal, paint stick, oil pastel watercolor and acrylic paint. Hand pulled monotype prints are also employed. Students work individually and in group. Examples of artists who work within this tradition are discussed to give guidance and affirmation. The guiding principle for the course is that everything is an experiment, nothing is a failure, experience is the goal.
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