Teaching Philosophy
December 2006

In many ways, teaching studio art is a balance of two opposite, incompatible things. The most important is between giving direction and giving freedom. To address the necessary techniques and practices visual art is based upon - nuts and bolts, how-to paint, draw, or construct - has to involve giving direction, literally instructing. And in critiques of finished work, what are we doing if not suggesting what could have been done better? But art is such an indescribable thing; some people say it's an absurdity to try to "teach" it at all, because it is so strongly based on freedom - or rebellion even. Art history is a list of rebellions... and contemporary critics will always have respect for work which flies in the face of established ideas, snubs its nose at "direction," and for them no word is harsher than "derivative." To give direction, as a teacher of art, is not necessarily to exert control or reinforce tradition though, nor is it necessarily to provide something to rebel against. Constructive direction can actually serve to encourage a student to break his or her own habits, to make better work, both conceptually and technically.

Another balance is between planning and acting spontaneously. This applies to both teaching art and making it. There has to be a solid idea of what's going to happen, what is addressed and how, but the unpredictable way things actually develop requires that you adapt: de-emphasize this, add in a discussion of that, reiterate this...

Another balance, which isn't talked about so often, is between thinking of art in the context of art, and art in the context of the world. We need to do both. We need to be aware of what's going on and what's being said about it in the art world. Aside from reading, I go to as many galleries as I can stand (literally, with the number hovering around 300) in Chelsea every 5 weeks. This is important. BUT it is equally important that one's artwork is about something other than art... don't just read books on art, read books on anything and everything, and make artwork which is influenced by all of it. Art has influence on and is influenced by other disciplines - not only design or cinema, but science, history, or philosophy as well. And not only in subject matter or aesthetic, but in method or procedure. If we don't see this, then art is just a high-end luxury item; if we do, then it's one of the most culturally important endeavors anyone could undertake.

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Summary of teaching experience: I taught my own drawing course at Parsons School of Design, 10 3-hour sessions, lectures on technique and on conceptual issues; critique, both one-on-one and leading the group; excursions for observational drawing and to PS1 Contemporary art Museum. Also, as assistant to Mary Hambleton (2 semesters), I acted exactly as another teacher in the room, speaking with each of the students in her intermediate painting course about whatever issue they were struggling with in terms of their projects and their interpretation of the assignment. In Laurence Hegarty's Experimental forms class, which dealt with low-tech mixed-media, my position was similar but with more responsibilities, including officially conducting half of the final project critiques in smaller groups (1 semester). In Peter Drake's graduate-level theory and practice class, I helped on the organizational and administrative side of things, facilitating the weekly visiting lecturers and the odds-and-ends of the students' publicity and curatorial projects (2 semesters).