delineation
delineation
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Dec 31, 2006 (19 years) |
- | 3 | 2 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Dec 31, 2006 (19 years)
- Last activity
- -
- Topics created
- 3
- Replies created
- 2
Bio
I believe in the hand that draws, sketches, paints, collages, weaves, composes, molds clay, releases the shutter on the camera.
How do we complement what the hand can do with basic tools, some of which are centuries old, with the advanced tools provided by the digital age? It is a riveting question. As an art educator, finding ways to intersect the two is endlessly fascinating.
In my recent photography classes, the objective has been to wake students from their digital comfort zone. We shot medium format film in affordable plastic cameras such as the Brownie, Holga, and Diana. Students scanned their negatives and made digital prints. We swapped film to create dynamic double exposures, shot first with a framing device that fit in the camera, designed by the student using a computer and cut on the laser cutter. When the students were not shooting, I presented lectures on the history of photography and technical issues such as depth-of-field. I introduced the work of contemporary photographers such as Andreas Gursky and Sze Tsung Leong, two photographers who address issues of scale and architecture in their work.
In a recent drawing class the focus was to understand color through watercolor painting and drawing from the imagination. We spent time studying the paintings of Willem DeKooning, imitating his expressive brush work, trying to figure out how he manipulated space to expand and collapse on the picture plane. Students were further challenged to compose an abstract still life painting after examining the Purist paintings of Le Corbusier and Amédée Ozenfant. Several of them moved to Cubism and found inspiration in Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris. This project was about choices and judgment (where to put the vase, the plate, the deck of cards, etc.) Since our first idea is rarely our best, there was a lot of “back to the drawing board” moments. In the end I was pleased with the work and there was evidence they started to understand the language of abstraction. Their final assignment was to design and build a presentation device for their sketchbook that was mounted to the wall in one of our galleries for an end-of-semester exhibition.
It is my intention to present a working knowledge of techniques unique to the art studio in the clearest possible way, which is how I learned as an art student at Interlochen Arts Academy from grades 9 - 12. Attending this school was the single most pivotal experience of my young life and has informed the person I am now. I encountered there a cadre of invested artists and educators who led by example. I have them to thank for my work ethic and for instilling a curiosity of the world that sustains me as a maker to this day.
To find the confidence, worth, and vision of the self is the objective of my studio teaching practice. To respect, encourage, and challenge the individual student in a consistent and critical manner is my primary concern. This has been the foundation of my teaching for more than ten years.
To learn is to cultivate a personal interest in the issues brought forth in the studio and to investigate them on a deeper level. Clarity in communication and solid direction in the studio will provide students with means for discovery through creative problem solving. Our students will pursue their careers in a global economy. Skills acquired in the art studio are critical for thinking beyond the obvious and will enrich other subjects of study.
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