PERSONAL STATEMENT
I come to higher education from a base of 25 years of public school teaching in Indiana. I continue to have an interest in the practical aspects of the real classroom and am sensitive to the cultural milieu of a given community in making decisions about what can and should be done in the art classroom. I am very active in the interdisciplinary aspects of the fine arts and participate regularly in the music and theatre activities of the university community. I play bassoon and contrabassoon in the Lubbock and area symphony orchestras and maintain direct communication and involvement in the activities of the School of Music and the Department of Theatre and Dance at the university. My recent research activities include analysis of the use of postmodern theory and deconstruction in making decisions about how the workings of the contemporary artworld should impact art education in the schools. I take a critical stance and urge caution in embracing the activities of the at-the-edge contemporary artists as the model for school instruction and believe that certain aspects of modernism such as craftsmanship and design still have a valid place in the curriculum. While social theory related to multiculturalism, the embrace of popular culture, and inclusion strategies have a valid place in the art curriculum, they do not necessarily deserve to occupy the central place in the school curriculum. This stance is a source of lively debate among me and my colleagues. In that sense, diversity is well observed in the Visual Studies area of the School of Art.
Last updated: September 28, 2000