In my experience, empathy is one of the most valued traits an instructor can possess. The ability to listen and understand a student’s point of view is crucial to maintaining a nurturing environment that is both challenging and rewarding. It is important to establish a classroom community whose members can openly exchange ideas in order to enhance the learning process. With this in mind, I am constantly seeking out new and innovative ways to make my students to feel comfortable discussing their work and ideas with their peers in a way that is critical, constructive and productive. I find that art requires such an open and active network in order to thrive. I stand by my belief that if the students feel they are invested in the classroom experience they will be more likely to take risks in creating their own work.

I design my assignments as a set of “obstructions” that are intended to promote creative thinking. Students are asked to negotiate defined obstacles or to follow a set of guidelines in hopes that they will find innovative solutions to conceptual problems. The guidelines may be thematic, encouraging students to develop a concept, or technical, wherein the students hone their formal skills. These limitations are intended to help the students find new and inventive visual solutions to obstacles or boundaries that they may encounter as working artists. I introduce students to the work of contemporary and historical artists that have dealt with similar constraints in order to illustrate the infinite number of creative solutions to every problem. By doing so, I encourage each student to start asking their own questions in order to seek out a resolution unique to their style and skills. In addition to group critiques and discussions, I regularly meet with each of my students to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their work. I listen and encourage them to examine the roots of their success in order to unlock the possibilities to come.

As an instructor, I see myself as both a mentor and community organizer. I foster a sense of community through a variety of participatory activities and collaborative exercises designed to engage and inspire my students to create work that is both technically proficient and conceptually grounded. By introducing collaborative projects each semester in the form of a class portrait or class exhibition, the students are able to contribute in a meaningful way to the outcome of the course. Bringing the class together to exchange their ideas or make group decisions concerning the projects has been a rewarding way to activate every student in every course.

I measure my success in the classroom through feedback from my students throughout and beyond the semester and through the technical and conceptual growth of their work. The relative success or failure of a particular assignment gives me the opportunity hone or mend my methods. Through this constant progressive evaluation I seek to improve assignments and critique structures in order to create an environment that generates excitement and interest.