20 Questions
Everything you've always wanted to know about me (but may have been afraid to ask). I thought the best way for people to learn about me would be from a student's perspective. So some 5th graders, the "Recess Crew" of the '07/'08 school year (MF, IR, HP, KA, TW, & SvdG) came up with a list of what they thought inquiring minds would like to know. Here are those questions and I update them often.
(Please remember when opening links you'll be on the
internet. Thus, you may want to review website content before using
with children.)
Q1: What inspired you to be an artist?
A: I guess my inspiration started out of competition. I used to battle my older brother and a kid named Brian (who was in my Kindergarten class) over who could draw better. It was out of that competition that my desire to practice and get better was born. Afterward, it was just something I took to, and it seemed as though I had some talent. I also had an awesome middle school art teacher named Mrs. Golden who inspired me a lot as a kid.
Q2: What college did you attend?
A: I graduated from Towson State University in 1998 with my bachelor's degree (BS) in Art Education. And then I graduated from MICA (MD Inst. College of Art) in 2003 with my master's degree (MA) in Art Education. If you want to go even further, I attended Riviera Beach Elementary School, George Fox Middle School, and Northeast High School. They were all in the town of Pasadena, in Anne Arundel County.
Q3: How long have you been an art teacher?
A: This is will be my 17th year. My first year of teaching I was split between two schools, CCES and DRES. The following year I became the full-time art teacher at Clemens, and have been here ever since.
Q4: What type of art is your favorite and what kind do you enjoy seeing the most?
A: If I had to choose my favorite kind of art that would be difficult. I really admire a lot about other artists and their work. If I had to choose a favorite period it would be that of the Rennaissance because of the time I spent studying in Italy and that of American Art done between the early 1900's and 1950's. I enjoy seeing all kinds of art, but what I like most of all is when they find a piece of art that has never been seen in public before and they put that on display for the first time. I was also fascinated by the Gates project in Central Park, NYC by Christo.
Q5: Who is your favorite artist?
A: It's hard to pick one, so I'd have to go with Jackson Pollock, Marsden Hartley, and Mark di Suvero.
Q6: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in a town called Pasadena in Anne Arundel County in the community of Riviera Beach. You could go 8 blocks from my house, down to the waterfront and see the Bethlehem Steel plant and the Key Bridge across the water.
Q7: Who is your role model?
A: That is a tough one. I would probably say I have a few. One is my Dad. He showed me ways of persevering beyond what you thought was attainable. He also taught me to work hard and that respect and admiration are earned, not just given. I look up to my Mom a lot because she had to raise my brother and me while my Dad had to be out of town a lot on business trips while we were growing up. So she taught me that you have to be patient, although kids can be frustrating at times. I look to my wife for that same kind of patience, as well as the compassion she has for others, and her big heart. Lastly, I had a wonderful art teacher in high school (Steve Sweet) and two in college (Jim Flood and Haig Janian) that taught me art is beyond just being artistic. I can't thank them enough, because their guidance helped me become the teacher I am today.
Q8: What is your favorite art museum?
A: It is probably the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Just all of the famous pieces they have there like Starry Night and
Persistence of Memory are really great to see over and over again. And seeing things up close and personal is so much different than looking at a postcard or poster. With these two paintings, the originals are so much smaller than what they seem in postcard or poster form.
Q9: Where is your favorite place to visit?
A: That is definitely New York City. It is the center of the art world in many ways. Also, the jazz clubs are great! And no matter what, every time I go there, I can always see something I've never seen before. I guess it also helps that I proposed to my wife in Central Park and we were married there as well.
Q10: Who is your favorite athlete?
A: It all depends on the generation. Of my Dad's generation it would be Stan Musial or Johnny Unitas. Of my generation it would be Don Mattingly, Richard Petty, Ward or Jeff Burton. My wife's favorite is Derek Jeter.
Q11: What is your favorite band?
A: Our Lady Peace. They're a band out of Canada that I've been a fan of since 1995 when I saw them open up for Van Halen at Merriweather. I've seen them several times since, and even had the chance to meet them at the 9:30 club. They're an extremely nice group of guys and very appreciative of their fans. A close second would be Ben Harper. Possibly third or tied with Harper would be Pearl Jam. Also, recently two of my favorite bands from the 1990's, Live and Candlebox formed a new band, The Gracious Few. They're great too. I'm also very much into jazz, an interest first passed on by my Dad. And even though it's not a band, I would have to say that Terell Stafford and Cyrus Chestnut are some of my favorite jazz musicians. And they both just happen to be from Maryland!
Q12: What is your favorite piece of art and why?
A: That would be two right now, Marsden Hartley's Portrait of German Officer and Jackson Pollock's Peggy Guggenheim Mural. I can't tell you how many times I've viewed the Hartley painting and it is just as powerful every time. Just the sheer thought of a portrait without any face or body parts is amazing. The whole painting is an amalgam of symbols representing the officer, his ribbons and medals from his uniform. And Pollock's mural is one I wish I could have seen in person. It was at least 15' long when it was completed and there is a story that it was cut down by several inches to fit in Guggenheim's NYC apartment. I just love the mixture of his drip style with the figural work in the painting.
Q13: What artist inspired you or affected you the most?
A: Probably Jackson Pollock. I started getting interested in him early in high school. I would just read as much as I can about him and have quite an extensive collection of books on him. When reading about him, he really grew out of some family issues to become the artist he was. He also ignored all traditional aspects of art and painting prior to his working and changed the whole face of the art world. He was a lot like Vincent van Gogh in that regard. He made so many people upset with his style of painting, yet there were many that were so captivated they couldn't stop looking. So for someone to be able to to grow out of that and be successful, albeit for a short period of time is a very powerful story. When I look at the trivial things that I've dealt with compared to him, I can only be inspired by what he did as an artist. He is also my son's namesake.
Q14: What has been your favorite art unit you've done at CCES?
A: I would have to say I've enjoyed all of the things we've done around Keith Haring. The kids really enjoy his work and can understand it on the surface. I really have fun presenting his life and work to the kids by cooperative learning activities before we even start working on the more graphic stuff like sketching, etc. A couple of years ago we also did a unit based on the theme of identity for a countywide exhibition. The students made a photomontage of collected magazine pics and words to describe themselves. Afterward, they worked on a self-portrait using a printing process similar to linoleum block. The material that we used was called Klean-Kut or Safe-Kut. It cuts much easier and safer than linoleum for the elem. aged kids.
Q15: What's your favorite hobby?
A: When I do get the chance I do like to do my own artwork, but that does get difficult with having children 6.5 and 3.5. In addition, my wife and I work opposite hours. Going to art museums is always a great experience. I really enjoy collecting autographs. I have a signed baseball from every living Baseball HOF member, plus about 25-30 signed mini-helmets from NFL HOF members from the 1950's and '60's including all of the Baltimore Colts HOF'ers. I also have at least 50 signed cd's from different bands, etc. and several autographed NASCAR die-cast cars. I'm kind of a pack rat when it comes to collecting stuff. I still have all of my comic books and baseball cards from when I was a kid, as well as actual seats from Veterans Stadium, Camden Yards, and Memorial Stadium. I also play a lot of cards with my friends. We like to play a game called Crates, which is similar to UNO but with a normal deck of cards.
Q16: What kind of art do you prefer doing yourself?
A: I dabble in a lot of things. I've done stained glass, wood sculpture, oil painting, oil pastel, charcoal drawing, etc. The last time I was working on something of my own, I was using boiled corn starch as a painting medium and mixing it with acrylic pigment. That was pretty fun. My least favorite is probably clay or watercolor. Clay is rather finicky and watercolor takes a lot patience. You can see some examples of my work here.
Q17: Do you have any favorite websites?
A. Yes, I'm pretty much an internet junkie. On a daily basis I check Facebook, to keep up with my friends near and far. In addition, I check jayski.com (for all of my NASCAR information), mlb.com (to keep up on baseball and the standings). After that I try and keep tabs on a lot of the art museums, and Amazon to check prices in my cart (I have a wishlist there too). And there's a great site called slickdeals.net. I've saved a lot of money using that site buying stuff for my children.
Q18: Do you have any children?
A: Yes, I have two. My daughter Jessica Kathleen is 10 and I have a son Jackson Charles who is 7. You can see pics of them at the bottom of the page.
Q19: What do you typically do during the summer?
A: Well, my wife has taught summer school for HCPSS at times, and she also tutors. That means I get to spend most of the day with my kids doing all kinds of fun stuff. When my wife gets home in the afternoon, I normally try and pick up some odd jobs over the summer to make some extra money. I've worked for an electrician before, detailed cars, driven cars from one dealership to another, and written art curriculum for HCPSS. I try to stay busy and help out the family. In the summer of '09, I was chosen to do a workshop on the artist Winslow Homer that took place in New England for a month. It was an incredible experience, although it was very hard to be away from my family for the summer. In 2011, I followed that up with an NEH session on Duke Ellington in CT, although we spent a lot of time in NYC as well. It was a great experience and I met some more teacher friends! The summer of '12, I attended another NEH workshop on the Pueblo Indians in Santa Fe, NM. The summer of '13, I was in San Diego learning about the history of California and the city of SD. Then for the summer of '14, I was in San Francisco studying that area during WWII. And this past summer I studies in the MS Delta, learning about the blues, racism, and geography of that region. I plan on continuing these as much as I can because they're great opportunities to learn from great people, meet teachers from all over the country, and obtain graduate credits as well.
Q20: If you didn't become an art teacher what would be your other choice for a career?
A: Wow, what a great question! I enjoyed architectural drafting in high school, so being an architect could be fun. However, considering my love for music, I think being a music club promoter or cd store owner (like Sound Garden) would be a blast. I've also often wondered what it would be like to design all of the paint jobs, etc. for the cars on the NASCAR circuit.
If there is anything else you'd like to know, please contact me and I'll make sure to post it and update the webpage. Thanks a bunch.
A: I guess my inspiration started out of competition. I used to battle my older brother and a kid named Brian (who was in my Kindergarten class) over who could draw better. It was out of that competition that my desire to practice and get better was born. Afterward, it was just something I took to, and it seemed as though I had some talent. I also had an awesome middle school art teacher named Mrs. Golden who inspired me a lot as a kid.
Q2: What college did you attend?
A: I graduated from Towson State University in 1998 with my bachelor's degree (BS) in Art Education. And then I graduated from MICA (MD Inst. College of Art) in 2003 with my master's degree (MA) in Art Education. If you want to go even further, I attended Riviera Beach Elementary School, George Fox Middle School, and Northeast High School. They were all in the town of Pasadena, in Anne Arundel County.
Q3: How long have you been an art teacher?
A: This is will be my 17th year. My first year of teaching I was split between two schools, CCES and DRES. The following year I became the full-time art teacher at Clemens, and have been here ever since.
Q4: What type of art is your favorite and what kind do you enjoy seeing the most?
A: If I had to choose my favorite kind of art that would be difficult. I really admire a lot about other artists and their work. If I had to choose a favorite period it would be that of the Rennaissance because of the time I spent studying in Italy and that of American Art done between the early 1900's and 1950's. I enjoy seeing all kinds of art, but what I like most of all is when they find a piece of art that has never been seen in public before and they put that on display for the first time. I was also fascinated by the Gates project in Central Park, NYC by Christo.
Q5: Who is your favorite artist?
A: It's hard to pick one, so I'd have to go with Jackson Pollock, Marsden Hartley, and Mark di Suvero.
Q6: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in a town called Pasadena in Anne Arundel County in the community of Riviera Beach. You could go 8 blocks from my house, down to the waterfront and see the Bethlehem Steel plant and the Key Bridge across the water.
Q7: Who is your role model?
A: That is a tough one. I would probably say I have a few. One is my Dad. He showed me ways of persevering beyond what you thought was attainable. He also taught me to work hard and that respect and admiration are earned, not just given. I look up to my Mom a lot because she had to raise my brother and me while my Dad had to be out of town a lot on business trips while we were growing up. So she taught me that you have to be patient, although kids can be frustrating at times. I look to my wife for that same kind of patience, as well as the compassion she has for others, and her big heart. Lastly, I had a wonderful art teacher in high school (Steve Sweet) and two in college (Jim Flood and Haig Janian) that taught me art is beyond just being artistic. I can't thank them enough, because their guidance helped me become the teacher I am today.
Q8: What is your favorite art museum?
A: It is probably the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Just all of the famous pieces they have there like Starry Night and
Persistence of Memory are really great to see over and over again. And seeing things up close and personal is so much different than looking at a postcard or poster. With these two paintings, the originals are so much smaller than what they seem in postcard or poster form.
Q9: Where is your favorite place to visit?
A: That is definitely New York City. It is the center of the art world in many ways. Also, the jazz clubs are great! And no matter what, every time I go there, I can always see something I've never seen before. I guess it also helps that I proposed to my wife in Central Park and we were married there as well.
Q10: Who is your favorite athlete?
A: It all depends on the generation. Of my Dad's generation it would be Stan Musial or Johnny Unitas. Of my generation it would be Don Mattingly, Richard Petty, Ward or Jeff Burton. My wife's favorite is Derek Jeter.
Q11: What is your favorite band?
A: Our Lady Peace. They're a band out of Canada that I've been a fan of since 1995 when I saw them open up for Van Halen at Merriweather. I've seen them several times since, and even had the chance to meet them at the 9:30 club. They're an extremely nice group of guys and very appreciative of their fans. A close second would be Ben Harper. Possibly third or tied with Harper would be Pearl Jam. Also, recently two of my favorite bands from the 1990's, Live and Candlebox formed a new band, The Gracious Few. They're great too. I'm also very much into jazz, an interest first passed on by my Dad. And even though it's not a band, I would have to say that Terell Stafford and Cyrus Chestnut are some of my favorite jazz musicians. And they both just happen to be from Maryland!
Q12: What is your favorite piece of art and why?
A: That would be two right now, Marsden Hartley's Portrait of German Officer and Jackson Pollock's Peggy Guggenheim Mural. I can't tell you how many times I've viewed the Hartley painting and it is just as powerful every time. Just the sheer thought of a portrait without any face or body parts is amazing. The whole painting is an amalgam of symbols representing the officer, his ribbons and medals from his uniform. And Pollock's mural is one I wish I could have seen in person. It was at least 15' long when it was completed and there is a story that it was cut down by several inches to fit in Guggenheim's NYC apartment. I just love the mixture of his drip style with the figural work in the painting.
Q13: What artist inspired you or affected you the most?
A: Probably Jackson Pollock. I started getting interested in him early in high school. I would just read as much as I can about him and have quite an extensive collection of books on him. When reading about him, he really grew out of some family issues to become the artist he was. He also ignored all traditional aspects of art and painting prior to his working and changed the whole face of the art world. He was a lot like Vincent van Gogh in that regard. He made so many people upset with his style of painting, yet there were many that were so captivated they couldn't stop looking. So for someone to be able to to grow out of that and be successful, albeit for a short period of time is a very powerful story. When I look at the trivial things that I've dealt with compared to him, I can only be inspired by what he did as an artist. He is also my son's namesake.
Q14: What has been your favorite art unit you've done at CCES?
A: I would have to say I've enjoyed all of the things we've done around Keith Haring. The kids really enjoy his work and can understand it on the surface. I really have fun presenting his life and work to the kids by cooperative learning activities before we even start working on the more graphic stuff like sketching, etc. A couple of years ago we also did a unit based on the theme of identity for a countywide exhibition. The students made a photomontage of collected magazine pics and words to describe themselves. Afterward, they worked on a self-portrait using a printing process similar to linoleum block. The material that we used was called Klean-Kut or Safe-Kut. It cuts much easier and safer than linoleum for the elem. aged kids.
Q15: What's your favorite hobby?
A: When I do get the chance I do like to do my own artwork, but that does get difficult with having children 6.5 and 3.5. In addition, my wife and I work opposite hours. Going to art museums is always a great experience. I really enjoy collecting autographs. I have a signed baseball from every living Baseball HOF member, plus about 25-30 signed mini-helmets from NFL HOF members from the 1950's and '60's including all of the Baltimore Colts HOF'ers. I also have at least 50 signed cd's from different bands, etc. and several autographed NASCAR die-cast cars. I'm kind of a pack rat when it comes to collecting stuff. I still have all of my comic books and baseball cards from when I was a kid, as well as actual seats from Veterans Stadium, Camden Yards, and Memorial Stadium. I also play a lot of cards with my friends. We like to play a game called Crates, which is similar to UNO but with a normal deck of cards.
Q16: What kind of art do you prefer doing yourself?
A: I dabble in a lot of things. I've done stained glass, wood sculpture, oil painting, oil pastel, charcoal drawing, etc. The last time I was working on something of my own, I was using boiled corn starch as a painting medium and mixing it with acrylic pigment. That was pretty fun. My least favorite is probably clay or watercolor. Clay is rather finicky and watercolor takes a lot patience. You can see some examples of my work here.
Q17: Do you have any favorite websites?
A. Yes, I'm pretty much an internet junkie. On a daily basis I check Facebook, to keep up with my friends near and far. In addition, I check jayski.com (for all of my NASCAR information), mlb.com (to keep up on baseball and the standings). After that I try and keep tabs on a lot of the art museums, and Amazon to check prices in my cart (I have a wishlist there too). And there's a great site called slickdeals.net. I've saved a lot of money using that site buying stuff for my children.
Q18: Do you have any children?
A: Yes, I have two. My daughter Jessica Kathleen is 10 and I have a son Jackson Charles who is 7. You can see pics of them at the bottom of the page.
Q19: What do you typically do during the summer?
A: Well, my wife has taught summer school for HCPSS at times, and she also tutors. That means I get to spend most of the day with my kids doing all kinds of fun stuff. When my wife gets home in the afternoon, I normally try and pick up some odd jobs over the summer to make some extra money. I've worked for an electrician before, detailed cars, driven cars from one dealership to another, and written art curriculum for HCPSS. I try to stay busy and help out the family. In the summer of '09, I was chosen to do a workshop on the artist Winslow Homer that took place in New England for a month. It was an incredible experience, although it was very hard to be away from my family for the summer. In 2011, I followed that up with an NEH session on Duke Ellington in CT, although we spent a lot of time in NYC as well. It was a great experience and I met some more teacher friends! The summer of '12, I attended another NEH workshop on the Pueblo Indians in Santa Fe, NM. The summer of '13, I was in San Diego learning about the history of California and the city of SD. Then for the summer of '14, I was in San Francisco studying that area during WWII. And this past summer I studies in the MS Delta, learning about the blues, racism, and geography of that region. I plan on continuing these as much as I can because they're great opportunities to learn from great people, meet teachers from all over the country, and obtain graduate credits as well.
Q20: If you didn't become an art teacher what would be your other choice for a career?
A: Wow, what a great question! I enjoyed architectural drafting in high school, so being an architect could be fun. However, considering my love for music, I think being a music club promoter or cd store owner (like Sound Garden) would be a blast. I've also often wondered what it would be like to design all of the paint jobs, etc. for the cars on the NASCAR circuit.
If there is anything else you'd like to know, please contact me and I'll make sure to post it and update the webpage. Thanks a bunch.