Blake Shell Teaching Philosophy
My teaching methods are unique because I am able to bring a multiplicity of perspectives on art, as a practicing artist, an educator, and also a curator. My students benefit from my knowledge of the processes of creation, production, marketing, and exhibiting artwork from the perspective of both the artist and the curator. Students learn from my expertise in professional practices of contemporary artists, gaining insight into the various contexts in which art develops and comes to have meaning.
My art practice is cross-disciplinary, while being greatly informed by photography. I refer to art and photography history within my own work, and utilize the traditional methods of photography as a foundation for a new way of artmaking. In many ways my process mirrors that of photography exactly, only it occurs primarily within a computer. My practice of artmaking informs my classes, as I encourage students to build new and interesting ideas on a platform of knowledge of the photographic tradition.
I have created courses in photography that emphasize the entire process of artmaking, through concept development, technical improvement, critique, presentation, and exhibition. I view photography as a fine art medium, and therefore expose students to a diverse range of work in all visual art mediums. I introduce students to conceptual practices and imaginative thinking in relation to artmaking, encouraging work that speaks to the history of art but does something new and unexpected.
The reliance of photography on technology means that students must have a base of technical knowledge in order to realize their ideas. I teach these skills in both digital and analogue photography. In upper-level courses, students have a variety of skills. Utilizing group activities as well as individual tutoring, I am able to address a broad range of student needs. One specific assignment that teaches technical skills is the Emulated Image. In this assignment students must pick a photograph to emulate, replicating the image as closely as possible. A standard studio assignment in many other mediums, I have found this highly effective in photography courses. This assignment is given early on in the class and it serves to teach technical skills of lighting, composition, and printing. This assignment also teaches research skills and photography history. Students become familiar with the photographers that they view in the process and also the photographers that the other students emulate.
Over the course of my teaching, I have seen that undergraduate students learn more from in-progress critiques than final critiques. Undergraduates need to focus on each project individually, allowing them to explore a number of methods of working within one course. In-progress critiques allow students to improve a specific project, learning the value of group evaluation and development of ideas over time. This process allows students to view critiques as positive and directly beneficial to each project, rather than focusing on defending their work. The work is improved technically and conceptually, and students learn to problem-solve for their own work and by the discussion of other students’ projects.
I work with students to help them learn the full process of artmaking, not just the creation and critique of art. Students work together to brainstorm and developed their concepts. Group interaction helps students to feel connected and inspired, they learn from each other and create a community within the classroom. The presentation of work is also addressed as a critical aspect of artmaking. Critiques include discussion of final display, connecting the presentation of work to the concept and visual style. Each class exhibits work together in an exhibition in a university or community gallery. Students gain the knowledge of the exhibition process, including framing, installing, and writing artist statements. This experiential learning is significant for students’ understanding of themselves as active artists.
An online resource that I am building is a list of art websites, currently numbering over 300. Each site is tagged with subjects and mediums, allowing the students to search a variety of topics quickly. The community-based website that I am using, Delicious Bookmarks, allows students to create their own list linking to any website that they find interesting as well as other sites that they find. They can create their own system of tagging and can access their new list from any computer with Internet access. This teaches students to build their own resources, and gives them a tool that is valuable in researching art, grants, jobs, graduate schools and more.
I use alternative strategies of teaching beyond the traditional lecture-based classroom. Students are encouraged to participate in each other’s learning, teaching them the value of their insights in conceptualizing and critiquing art. I work to reevaluate each classroom continuously, allowing the courses to be reformulated around individual needs and group dynamics. This allows a mode of receptivity that creates the best learning for everyone. With a focus on all phases of artmaking, I am able to address each student’s needs from developing a concept to the presentation of their finished works. Additionally, I structure my courses to teach community, research skills, and professional skills, giving students invaluable lessons for work and life.