FAUNA ROSE PARKER

ART TEACHER PHILOSOPHY

 

All human beings have the innate desire to express themselves.  As an art educator, I present a multitude of avenues for expression, creativity and learning.  To be creative, one must be curious, flexible, persistent, and inspired.  An artistic learning environment should be alive with discussion, freethinking, questioning, challenge, discovery and connections, where the student is never a passive consumer of knowledge but rather a witness to personal, innovative growth. 

 

As a teacher, it is my goal to provide students with experiences in visual arts that stimulate creative self-expression, where emphasis is placed on the journey of creating as well as the achievement of results.  I believe that it is crucial to connect with students individually and to understand a little bit of their personal story and what sparks them in ways beyond the mundane. 

 

It is my belief that effective art instruction incorporates many different components, such as historical study, critical thinking and philosophical aesthetics, in addition to studio foundation techniques.  Through myriad discipline bases, students not only expand and develop technical skills, but also profoundly see and respond to works in ways that enable them to understand the power and nature of the aesthetic experience.  I believe that the art studio and classroom can be a portal to the world, where one can be exposed to ethnographic stories and inspiration or, conversely, a platform from which to respond to all manners of society.  Further, it is my commitment as an art educator to endorse art making that is not only aesthetically stimulating, new and innovative, but ultimately exhibits a commitment toward responsible and sustainable design. 

 

My enthusiasm for all things art and design is apparent in the passion and dedication I present through teaching.  I vow to continually challenge myself and examine my instruction.  I have an extraordinary opportunity to influence students’ creative and academic experiences and my objective is that they become enlivened life-long connoisseurs of the artistic experience.