What makes you so passionate about teaching Art?
‘The artist is the person who makes life more interesting or beautiful, more understandable or mysterious or probably in the best sense, more wonderful.’ A quote from George Bellows.
It doesn’t matter where I teach, I feel and see ‘the wonderful’ in what the youngest students are creating in Art. This is what makes me passionate about sharing my love of making and creating art on the Junior Campus.
Art can be a powerful means of fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills. How do you integrate these skills into your teaching?
In the art room, students learn and develop skills to question the understanding of their learning and to analyse and make sense of the information. This involves observation, interpretation, decision-making and problem solving which are all important skills for students to learn through art.
Critical thinking has become essential in an increasingly complex and unpredictable world. It’s not just about acquiring knowledge but about questioning, analysing, and making sense of that knowledge. And one of the most effective yet often overlooked ways to cultivate this skill in children is through art.
Who or what inspires you?
My students inspire me every day with their enthusiasm to learn and create. I am fortunate that I get to teach my favourite artists and they teach me. There is not a day that goes by I don’t learn something new from each of my classes. My art department colleagues, who are all amazing artists, also inspire me to keep creating and making art.
What are your goals in terms of instilling a love for art and critical thinking in your students?
I hope the students sense my love and passion for art. It is important for me to share and role model how I approach art making: how I choose and experiment with materials; how I problem solve to express my idea; how I bring my creation to life. I make observations, I experiment, I ask questions and make my own interpretation. These are all fundamental aspects of critical thinking. When I am creating art, I am making conscious decisions about what to create, how to create it, and why I am creating it in a certain way. I look carefully at my work, adjust, and reflect on the outcome. By demonstrating these skills to my students, they can see how critical thinking skills can enhance their art making process.