TEACHING PHILSOPHY
In my class, students are explorers of reality, imagination, and creativity. Students will learn that skill is what makes the master and not talent, specifically the skill to perceive the world accurately and creatively. When my students explore their world through art-making, they will form a firm spatial understanding three dimensional objects.They will explore how objects & materials can be manipulated to create illusions or images. For example, my students will learn that drawings are not just flat images but illusions of objects that exist in a three dimensional space. I teach that drawings can create the illusion of three dimensionality even though drawings exist in a two dimensional space. With this spatial awareness, my students will be conscious of the physical reality in which we exist in.
When my students create something, I ask them to keep in mind of all of visuals they have come to understand the meanings of, and to analysis why an image’s meaning has come so naturally to people. I ask them to understand the process of how images have come to means certain things. As a designer and artist I employ a Cognitive Pluralism ideology when conceiving of new ideas. While I draw from various historical pieces that were created with other ideologies, I stress Cognitive Pluralism because we live in an age of globalism where we have collectively developed representative icons and images. It's important to understand the ever changing and collective visual language our world is speaking.
The knowledge my students gain can be used on a practical level. Regardless of what my students choose to do after they receive their education, they need to have basic visual awareness. People communicate using visuals everyday, the knowledge my students will gain from art class can be used to conceptualize even the most abstract concepts. When students draw on paper they are communicating through two dimensions, despite the fact that we live and exist in a three dimensional space. This requires a firm understanding of the space that we exist in. It is only when students create sculpture they are utilizing the Z axis, the third dimension. In art they are show how to manipulate objects and tools to be able to communicate through four dimensions. My students are always asked to think of the 4th dimension, time, when creating art pieces. The 4th dimension can be thought of as the process behind the art pieces. When my students work towards creative solutions, they are engaging in an art-making process. By teaching my students to take control of this process, they will be able to apply these critical thinking skills to a wide range of other subjects.
SPACE