My Personal Aesthetic as an Artist/Educator

Before enrolling as a graduate student in Art Education at the University of Cincinnati I don’t know if I had really pondered the question “What is my personal aesthetic as an artist”. Even as an art student I remember struggling with the concept of aesthetics, and to some degree I am still building on my understanding of personal aesthetic. I believe that the scholarship of philosophical theories, meaningful engagement with teaching practice, and my own reflection on my art practice has changed the way I think of aesthetics.

As an art student and practicing artist, trying to define my own personal aesthetic was difficult not only because of the ambiguity of the concept but also because I struggled with not having a coherent theme or particular style that connected all of my work. Although my work was technically sound and showed my ability to create art that one might consider “aesthetically pleasing” or “good art”, something seemed to be missing. I think my work as an art student and to some degree as a practicing artist outside of an academic setting to be more of an exploration of materials while creating images and forms that were pleasing to the eye. The majority of the time I created artworks purely for my own pleasure with little to no consideration of my audience. Most of the time, I made things that I personally wanted to display in my home with no intention of selling them or showing them in a gallery.

I have worked with many different mediums over the years including: painting, woodworking, metal casting and fabrication and ceramics. As a senior at Northern Kentucky University I took a wheel-throwing course and fell in love with the process of creating pottery and the material itself. After graduation I worked as an intern for a year at Funkē Fired Arts in Cincinnati. While working as a studio technician I produced an impressive number of pots, mugs, bowls, plate ware and other various forms. Since that time I have sold most of the pieces I have created. I paid more attention to aesthetics while creating pottery than with any other medium. Perhaps it was because I worked with the medium almost every day for two years or because I had to consider its functionality as well as its aesthetic value as a work of art.

I have also studied and worked in the culinary arts which have provided me an opportunity to consider the aesthetic experience of food preparation and presentation. The experience of dining excites all of the senses like no other medium can. As a graduate student, artist and pre-service teacher, I am interested in Art as a form of nourishment for the mind, body and soul. I have come to understand aesthetics to be more than the way an artwork looks. Through more recent art practices and my experience as a graduate student, I have come to see aesthetics as a form of philosophical inquiry and a way of making new discoveries and theoretical perspectives through art-making. My experience as a pre-service teacher has provided me a new perspective and conceptual framework for understanding what aesthetics means to me. Rather than merely experimenting with form, color and material, I have come to better understand the importance of reflection and philosophical inquiry as an artist as well as a visual arts educator.