Teaching Philosophy
My commitments to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are principal to my practice within and outside academic institutions. As a teacher, I realize that before I teach a subject, I teach who I am — just by the fact of my presence. I must be aware of how I think of myself in relation to others in society and how I represent myself within it, thereby instilling the ways and means to critical thought and discourse by understanding one's ontology within the community. As a queer artist it is imperative for me to teach my queer history and its relation to major socio-political movements within the current era. I draw upon the essential contributions of Judith Butler, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Bell Hooks, whose writings on the intersectionality of race, capitalism, and gender help us understand and undermine perpetual systems of oppression and class domination in communities.
In my classroom, I establish community through the correct pronunciation of names and pronouns. I acknowledge individual interests and reasons for arriving in a shared moment. As a caucasian male, I am always privileged by society. And, as a teacher amongst students, it is my responsibility to acknowledge that we are privileged with access to education and the ability to begin a relationship with each other in the classroom. I do not wish to be viewed as an art expert or a person who definitively knows if an artwork is significant. Instead, I am a skilled and enthusiastic facilitator to the student's critical thinking and creating. I encourage my students to develop their own definitions based on continually shifting societal norms in relation to time and place. I cultivate community through respect, humanity, and self-awareness.
Community begins within the classroom but extends naturally away from it. And so, community is also the acknowledgment of the history of the place and people that came before us. This recognition of people and place can be as simple as consistent Indigenous land acknowledgments, or by exploring the contributions of diverse artists to the world community. These actions can open the range of students' beliefs, encourage a dialogue within the classroom, and situate present actions and abilities within the spectrum of global history. Art should be studied and made for both its expressive power and its possible social meaning. Art is a language of thought which must be accessible to all students, not just the talented or well-connected few. It is essential for teachers and students to work together to explore their own stories and dislodge the ideologies that sustain the practice of exclusion and marginalization. This can be achieved through critical multicultural art education, recognition of intersectionality at odds with systems of white and euro-centric hegemony, and a healthy inquisition of art and academic institutions that include our universities and museums. Community is acknowledging what is not just physically present, with an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
As the Graduate Student Representative at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago I partnered closely with the school's executive administration to advance DEI within the Schools MFA programs as well as the overall student experience. My passion for equity and wellbeing led me to work collaboratively with internal stakeholders to implement inclusive hiring strategies that increased the number of BIPOC mental
health therapists within the Student Health Services Program. In a related initiative, I supported the organization by increasing access to Tele-health services through intercollegiate collaboration. I directly
supported the establishment of the school administration's Anti-Racism Committee (ARC) by providing essential communication between graduates and faculty. As a founding contributor to the formation of the administration's Anti-Racism Committee, I provided strategic guidance that informed more transparent communications, equitable hiring practices, accountability, and encouraged financial support for underprivileged students throughout my tenure.
Movement and mental health are universal concepts that exist within the context of Fine Arts and in our more intimate communities. Having grown up as a classically trained dancer, movement informs my
perspective on equity and accessibility. The awareness of who and how one moves through the world is the fuel for my interdisciplinary practice and informs my inclusion in the LGBTQIA+ community. Because art should be connected to other academic disciplines, my work also explores mental health and collective grieving practices. My experiential knowledge mental illness and reparative practices forms the foundation of my performance work. Thinking towards the future, I am expanding this research into the emergent field of inquiry known as Queer Thanatology; A field that explores the LGBTQIA+ communities grieving and ritual practices.
As a guest art lecturer at the University of Washington, I made my employment contingent on hiring Artists of Color to perform the same role, with equivalent pay, prior to engaging in contracts. In addition, I provided a list of names and contacts of potential artists of color within the Seattle community as a way of facilitating visibility and exposing students to traditionally underrepresented ideas and aesthetics.
In the classroom, it is imperative to emphasize examples of Woman, LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC excellence in books, literature, the canon of art history, and contemporary culture. More directly, this means providing guest speakers, critics, and figure models that reflect this priority while ensuring the education of painting palettes is inclusive of all tones, tints, and shades.
Ideally, art should be connected to other academic disciplines. With interdisciplinary studies and collaboration between teachers and peers, students can explore the concept of a cohesive community interweaving the arts with literature, history, the environment, and much more. This means finding and supporting artists outside of traditional academic spaces and collaborating with organizations working for social justice.
Through a community of inquiry, students learn to investigate, question, and critique art. In my classes, I want to invite risk-taking in art-making and art-thinking that questions the status quo and values the journey over the destination. I believe that the acquisition and the demonstration of skills are an important outcome of education but that its primary function is to help define a concept, clarify intent, and help to find an authentic voice that insists on inclusivity.
I vow to continue to pursue these ideas based on inclusivity and Anti-racism while preparing students for a career in the arts and a life of creative thinking.