TEACHING STATEMENT

My pedagogical practice centers curiosity, play, and the development of an intimate relationship between the artist and process at hand. I believe the making process is so deeply personal, and thus creative arts classrooms are especially fertile soil for experimentation, “mistakes”, and growth. My teaching practice is joyful and inquiry-based, and allows students to derive their own perspectives about their creative work and process, without pressure of a “right” or “wrong” way to approach something. 

I understand that so much of craft comes from community traditions and spaces, and I hope to contribute to this sense of shared knowledge by fostering a strong community within each classroom. No classroom is identical to another – the way the energies of each student blend into a new whole entity is unique to that space and time, and I honor that specific community with care. In practice, this looks like structuring critiques to be both rigorous and encouraging, allowing for student-to-student support and feedback, and building time into the schedule for students to share their experiences and reflections. I prefer to arrange workspaces so students are facing each other in a circle, in the same way I learned how to knit and weave in community, often sitting around large kitchen tables.

All students deserve art education that fosters a connection to their sense of self as makers, as individuals, and as members of a community. My teaching practice foregrounds these values through a student-centered balance of skill demonstrations, the sharing of contemporary and historical artists, and the daily prioritization of student expression and sharing.