Graduate advising is probably my favorite mode of teaching at SAIC. The opportunity to meet and work with students across disciplines and examining their practice through the lens of politics, philosophy, varied aesthetics and performance is very exciting. I like to begin with a lose set of goals for the semester and then deviate based on the needs of the students and the unexpected directions their work may take. We might look at work in studio or in another context outside of school, talk about professional practices, write grant proposals, or whatever seems most pertinent that particular week. I like to challenge my students to make bold statements in their work and to change the world – why not!!
In my own practice, I am an interdisciplinary performance artist and co-founder of the San Francisco based performance troupe La Pocha Nostra. I have has performed and conducted workshops with La Pocha at over 1000 venues across the US, Canada, Europe and Latin America. I have co-authored two books with Guillermo Gómez-Peña; most recently "Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy" Routledge 2011.
