For me, teaching is a natural extension of who I am. I love to empower students with the ideas and techniques they need to express themselves. I especially love seeing their eyes light up with the excitement of discovering a new concept for the first time. I see each one of my students as the capable, effective and powerful creative person that they desire to be. My goal is to encourage their artistic abilities and help them grow into the best artists they can become. I am a mentor, but I’m also a catalyst –a stimulator of thought. I believe the creative spark in us is simply the ability to focus on what we strongly desire. I therefore encourage imagination, critical thinking, and technical proficiency, but I do it with patience and an emphasis on individualized attention and evaluation. When students leave my classes, they have achieved a greater sense of self-confidence, an expanded technical expertise, and an ability to visualize clearly and effectively. They are eager, enthusiastic, and inspired. These students inspire me as well. As evidenced by evaluations, letters, student awards, portfolios, and employment, my students have made outstanding progress and have done remarkable work. My teaching is a collaborative experience; that is, it involves me and the student creating something brand new, something unique that was not there before. The teaching requires attention, focus, and most of all, the ability to see beyond the student’s self-imposed limitations. I advocate that any technique should serve the idea and the process of a project without overwhelming the intended effect. Often students try to master a superficial technical skill before they master the basics. My job is to help them see the overall picture of their assignments and to help them to do it faster and better. Many of my beginning students think that drawing is an inborn talent that is gifted to merely a few. To counter this belief, I first encourage students to draw every day. I discuss consistent practices and a high quantity of output as a path to improvement. Concepts of line, shape, value, space and color are important to the knowledge of a beginning draftsman, but even more important is the ability of the drawing student to begin to understand the difference between looking “by default” and looking with deliberate focused intent. I call this “slow” seeing. My in-class critiques help students to define and to articulate their ideas and to look more carefully at their fellow students’ efforts. Students learn to speak more clearly about their art with my ten-point assessment sheet that allows for more transparent expectations. I help students identify their greatest strengths and share them with others. I also document early examples of student work and then compare them to work done months later. This proof of improvement helps the student to acknowledge his or her own progress and to see the importance of the frequency of making art. Students work best when they know what is expected of them and are able to find their distinctive viewpoints. My experience with diverse cultures has given me an appreciation of the variety of backgrounds and learning styles of my students. I encourage them to articulate their ideas; to link their world and the framework of the classroom to projects that show their ability and talent. Each project I assign has very specific concepts and techniques required by the student, but it also allows for multiple interpretations. As an artist/teacher, I can best demonstrate my credibility to students by attending to visual problems I encounter in my own studio. For example, when teaching painting or color, I refer to a palette of split complementary colors that have served my own work well. In design, I discuss the golden ratio and root rectangles as devices for structural experimentation. Art historical references, travel, cross-cultural experiences, gallery and museum visits, and literature all play a part in my teaching. I make sure students see how their own personal trials and experiences can be a practical contribution to their art beyond the classroom.