Sunday, December 11, 2011

Overview

I have had the opportunity to introduce students to studio fundamentals as well as to bring them to the culmination of their training on the graduate level.

Within an intellectual approach to studio that connects students to course content on the highest possible conceptual level,  I remain pragmatic with respect to materials in order to reinforce a sensual, physical relationship to process and to keep the class grounded.  I teach to the top of students' potential and then a step beyond while taking care to keep the work connected to the simplest properties of materials.   Students must always see that there is yet another level to which they can aspire in their work and that there is a tradition and a history from which they have sprung.

Whether it is a fundamentals class or graduate school, all levels of sophistication within a given subject area are presented and available to all students at all times, making the individual students themselves the determinants of how far, how deep, and how sophisticated their understanding and the application of their learning will become.  Ideally, my criticism may be accessed on any level. 

While students always have access to information, there will be times that some students may not immediately grow beyond a superficial understanding of the content in question.  It has been my view that this will deepen with time and that the definition of a good education is one that continues to unfold over a lifetime and may not be completely known within the confines of one class, one year, or even one degree program.

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