Teaching Philosophy

As a teacher I firmly believe that critical thinking, independent thinking and Socratic questioning are crucial to challenge my students intellectually, but also to free them from preconceived notions of what art should be in the pursuit of their own creative projects. I listen and provide flexibility during my classes, and give assignments that let the students consider options. When I teach I like to be personal, honest, and friendly, but I also set benchmarks throughout my curriculum that ensure students reach their goals. I strive to make an emotional space that allows the students to realize that they are able to make art, express themselves visually, and meet their goals.  My objective is to help young individuals become creative adults and who support  and make art in the future. 

Immediately after earning my dual undergraduate degrees in art education and visual art, I became a teacher. Learning disabilities throughout my own schooling have informed my compassion towards teaching young people in their formative years, as I was lucky enough to have met with brilliant and compassionate teachers who helped me realize my potential despite my perceived challenges. I was accepted for who I was by means of an interdisciplinary approach that was inclusive while accommodating to different learning styles. It is this very attitude that I convey to my own students.  

I believe that people are creative at their core, it’s innate in our nature to create, and everyone has the ability to develop a better sense of themselves through creative processes. I want my students to have confidence in their artistry, to know how to solve visual problem, to find ideas that represent them in a sincere way. I also want them to be able to analyze the possibilities and different strategies to develop their ideas and then be able to figure out the skills needed to execute their visions. I facilitate student learning by allocating individual attention to my students and by structuring my classes so that I’m able to rotate between students during their studio work time. If there are special accommodations, we work around those. Once the students sense that they have agency over their experiences, they can express their creativity freely. 

I like to build an environment that is challenging beyond media specific, that pushes students out of their comfort zone. This may involve a trial and error approach to studio practice, exposure to art theory and analysis, research, presentations and group discussions. Routines such as field trips to the local art archives, exhibition visits and reviews, hosting artist talks and studio visits.

 My philosophy is that in motion there is flow, so I try to be as dynamic in all my classes. While higher level class time is spent between individual studio work and facilitating the project objectives, lower level courses focus on foundations. Student work is led by concept development where there isn’t a specific medium that dictates the outcome, so that iPhones, sound, digital labs, dark rooms, painting and printing studios, computer labs, libraries, ready made materials, performance or social practice, plants, breath, wanderlust, waste plants, and contemplation over folds of paper are all viable options waiting for student transformation.

Through an investigative process along with a consideration of materials, my teaching allows students the autonomy to work out the best ways to meet their goals. For example, when teaching a thesis seminar, I had a student who couldn't figure out what to do with archival material of slides she inherited from a stranger and although she was a very talented artist, she felt stuck. Over a whole trimester, we examined the qualities of archival work, between fantasy and reality and we ended up with a body of photographic work that mapped her apartment by projecting the slides onto her environment such that the personal space and stranger’s projected images told a unique visual narrative. 

Ultimately, it is essential that students be able to recognize major contemporary trends and artists, be familiar with methods of work that are beyond media driven, get to know fundamental requirements if pursuing art practice on their own, basic software for editing, elements of art, historical context for practice and critical tools for art analysis. However, it is most important for students to develop awareness of art as a mirror of their time. In the events of recent years we’ve seen growing trends in the arts to reflect the range of geog/social/political, and technological changes. In that sense, the learning curve should reflect a personal space that is directly related to our present time and not a simple regurgitation of the past. 

CV

Education

2010 - MFA University of Washington School of Art, Photomedia, Seattle, WA, USA
2000 - B.Ed.F.A Hamidrasha Art College, Beit Berl Academic College, Tel Aviv, Israel

Solo Exhibitions

2018 - Montana State University, Billings, MT
2016 - Violet Strays, Seattle, WA
2016 - Seed Space Gallery, Nashville, TN
2012 - Vignette, Seattle, WA
2012 - Soft Power Activated, The Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2018 - Drawn Out, SPU, Seattle, WA
2016 - Vignette + APRIL, Seattle, WA
2016 - Out of Sight, Seattle, WA
2014 - Parallel Play, Photographica, Seattle, WA
2014 - Ex Libris: 100 Artists, 100 Books, Seattle, WA
2013 - Nepo 5K Don’t Run, Seattle, WA
2013 - PCNW, Faculty Show, Seattle, WA
2012 - Nepo 5K Don’t Run, Seattle, WA
2011 - Nepo 5K Don’t Run, Seattle, WA
2011 - Most Dangerous Toys of 2011, Soil Gallery, Seattle WA
2010 - Resident Alien, Coca, Seattle, WA
2010 - Art + Design, Juried show, The Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA
2010 - Strange Coupling, Ouch My Eye gallery, Seattle, WA
2009 - “Open” Juror: Rock Hushka, Tacoma Art Museum, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA (won) 
2009 - MFA Summer Works I, The Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA
2009 - MFA Summer Works II, 3D4M Gallery, Seattle, WA
2008 - The 2008 Works on Paper + Small 3D 2D, Seattle, WA
2004 - “The Puppet Show”, Time for Art Gallery, Tel‐Aviv, Israel
2000 - Cinematheque, Tel‐Aviv, Israel

Performance Space

2018 - Dreamland Sinkhole, Seattle, WA
2017 - Pleasant Place, Seattle, WA
2015 - Keeara Rhoades, Andralamusya, Seattle, WA
2015 - Mel Carter, Andralamusya, Seattle, WA
2015 - Jueqian Fang, Andralamusya, Seattle, WA
2014 - Tele-Novella, Episode 1, Andralamusya, Seattle, WA
2014 -  It’s time For Love, Andralamusya, Seattle, WA
2014 - Tele-Novella, Episode 2, Andralamusya, Seattle, WA
2014 - My Mom’s Barbie Dolls, Andralamusya, Seattle, WA
2013 - Dreamland Sinkhole, Andralamusya, Seattle, WA
2013 - Dreamland sinkhole, Andralamusya, Seattle, WA
2013 - Dreamland Sinkhole, Andralamusya, Seattle, WA
2013 - Founder Andralamusya performance art space, Seattle, WA

Publications and Media

“Resident Alien”, COCA, Catalogue, 2010.
“The Puppet Show”, Time for Art, August 2004 (pp. 30-31) 
”Opulent Pages”, Locate Arts – Nashville, August 2016

Presentations

2016 - Guest lecturer at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
2013-  Presenter “Hanita Schwartz & Keeara Rhoades: Boundaries,” BuildingCommunity Through Inclusion,
Society of Photographic Education (SPE) Regional Conference, Seattle, WA, November, 2013

2009 - Presenter, Society for Photographic Educators Northwest (SPENW) Conference

Teaching

2011 – Present -  Faculty, Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW), Seattle, WA
(Thesis Seminar, Senior Seminar, Immediate Environment)

2011 - Adjunct Faculty, Art 140 Photography Honors, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
2009 - Instructor of Record, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (Winter, Spring)
2000-2005 Faculty, Art Teacher, Seattle Hebrew Academy

Syllabus, Assignments & Student Work Examples

Immediate Environments, PCNW
Select Student Work, PCNW (see below)

All rights reserved to the students/artists work: Aaron Wheetman, Aaron King, Gabriela Cociuba, Selena Kearney, James Kuan, Elizabeth, Leah Freed, Sarah King, Elisabeth Vasquez Hein