Department of Art and Art History

Associate Professor of Art

My approach to teaching emphasizes basic visual concepts and principles, while empowering students to develop their own ideas and perspectives. An initial emphasis on technical skills and formal aesthetics facilitates growth and development of their own ideas during personal investigations. Contemporary issues in painting are of paramount importance to my instruction.

Professor of Art

My teaching approach centers around empowering our students to overcome challenges. I want them to be problem-solvers and to push themselves. Additionally, I want studio art majors to understand that Sculpture and 3D Design can be the hub of many different approaches to making art. Teaching the Elements and Principles of Design continues to be the backbone of my approach, as well as teaching how to problem-solve a variety of media in relation to contemporary sculpture.

Department Chair & Professor of Art History

My courses and research have always intersected beautifully and manifested in excellent undergraduate research projects on Italian Renaissance and Baroque art. Teaching the aspects of Connoisseurship from original works of art in the Armstrong Browning Library has enabled undergraduate students to experience the kind of work that I do internationally. Frequently, my research on art and theology also engages students' interdisciplinary interests.

Senior Lecturer of Art

I love the interaction with students in the studio. I love getting to know them and building relationships with them. I ask them to give me their very best effort and I expect no less of myself.  I feel a deep sense of responsibility to my students and try to challenge them to go beyond their comfort zone, to attempt something they wouldn't attempt on their own. Most times the results are predictable. Sometimes, the results are totally unexpected. Every once in a while, they are exceptional.  That is what gets me up every morning, to see if today is the day one of my students is going to cross that threshold, the day they will have that personal Eureka! moment.

Associate Professor of Art

I think my favorite part of teaching is introducing, and witnessing students experience the magic of photography. I love the moment when they first see their prints come to life in the developer. It is a magical moment. I think it is extremely important to expose students to all different types of art, genres, considerations and intentions current in the art world today. It is our role as artists to constantly ask questions and then investigate them. I think the most important thing is for them to learn how to critically think and keep asking questions.
 

Associate Professor of Art

The acts of making art and teaching are an intuitive and intrinsic aspect of my being. I believe students learn best when they are enthusiastic and when students sense an instructor's passion for art and teaching, they respond in kind. To meet this obligation, I strive to inspire my classes through a technically and conceptually engaging curriculum that reflects my devotion to the fine art of printmaking and education.

Associate Professor of Art

My role is to inspire students. I approach this responsibility by teaching a practice of drawing that focuses on the possibilities inherent to working from direct observation. If they can engage the world in front of them in a way that invites critical thinking, their effectiveness is incalculable when they start asserting themselves more independently through their own projects.

Associate Professor of Art

The creative process is inspired by the soulful melodies and rhythmic influences that define the pace of the visual concept. As a graphic designer, I embrace the semiotic and aesthetic value of the letter form and the emotion it evokes when used as an element of design. Items in nature, flora and fauna, serve as sources of inspiration for their complex symbolism and simplistic form as graphic symbols.

Assistant Professor of Art

The materials, concepts, and processes of fiber art enrich the lives of every student that genuinely engages with them. My classroom culture is centered on the values of curiosity, generosity, and meaningful artistic risk. Students explore fabric design with an interdisciplinary approach, inspired by diverse artists and designers, both western and non-western, traditional and contemporary.

Assistant Professor of Art

My approach to teaching students about ceramics begins with building the fundamentals of their technical skills and critical thinking. I challenge students to bring in their own perspectives of reality and execute it purposefully in their work. I think one of the most important things for my students to learn is that in order to succeed, you must take risks, which means that sometimes you may fail. My hope and goal as a teacher is to influence and encourage my students to be dedicated, work hard, find confidence, learn from mistakes, and continue to ask questions. I find it to be extremely rewarding when a student finally makes their first object out of clay.

Assistant Professor of Art 

My passion is the intersection of teaching and practicing graphic design. I strive to prepare my students for thriving careers by focusing on human-centered design and fostering critical thinking. In my teaching, I constantly emphasize that a strategic approach to every project yields consistent, effective, and successful outcomes. Additionally, I stress the importance of understanding the target audience, storytelling, and conceptual strategies, as they are crucial for achieving impactful and timeless graphic design solutions. After all, graphic design is about visual communication; therefore, conceptual strategies are paramount in my teaching.

Assistant Professor of Art

As an educator and artist, it is my goal to serve as a motivator to the students through my actions as an artist. I continue to do creative research and remain an ongoing learner that aims to share new knowledge in the classroom. I aim to produce an environment where all students feel welcome and challenged. Drawing from observation is a foundational course that informs upper-level art courses but is also an opportunity to develop discipline in focus and being present in the moment. I believe that lifelong practical soft skills such as time-management, interpersonal communication, active listening and problem-solving are cultivated in studio art classes.

Assistant Professor of Art

In my classes, my first goal is to help students learn to think visually. Looking at a still life in Drawing I, for example, involves more than registering a collection of “things” sitting on a tabletop. Every visual experience, including drawing the simplest still life, reveals a rich structure of interconnected visual relationships. My primary goals are to help students become aware of the richness and depth of the visual world and to develop the skills to translate that depth into the language of art. As a teacher, nothing is more exciting to me than watching the quietly revolutionary shift in thinking that occurs as students learn to see and think more deeply about what it is we do as artists. My sincere hope is that my classes will prepare students to respond to the world in which they live with images of intellectual depth and visual sensitivity.

Photography is ever-changing and simultaneously consistent. I believe it is critical to understand both the technical side of this discipline and the multitude of directions contemporary artists are moving the medium in aesthetically and conceptually. Being in the classroom is where I share my passion for photography through a range of diverse assignments, technical demonstrations, and inspiration. I strive to cultivate a community in each class and assist students in developing strong foundational understanding of both analog and digital photo processes while empowering individuals to take ownership of the development of creative work throughout the course.