James H. French jr.
93 Mercer St. #2
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Phone: 917.885.9081
E-mail: french.jr@gmail.com
Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy is comprised of five inter-related ideas. The first is to teach art by placing it within the context of our world. By bringing social studies, history, geography, the natural sciences, language arts and literature into the art class, I intend to broaden students’ understanding of our world. At all times artists have served as a sounding board, as well as a critical voice for societies and cultures. Understanding of this role of the artist will help to understand our place in an ever-shrinking planet.
The second idea involves the promotion of cultural awareness through art. Teaching in urban schools creates the possibility for incredibly diverse classroom settings. Students will learn to recognize the sameness and difference in all cultures, and how they operate in relation to one another. The myriad of traditions and ideas that students bring to into the classroom presents an opportunity for exploration in class. By engaging with cultures different from our own we will foster a greater understanding of how many can function together as one, while preserving what is important to the formation of our individual identities.
The third idea about art education is that students need a broad skill base that enables them to express themselves in a variety of ways. This creates a potential for students to find a means of expression they may not have realized was available to them. This entails learning to use a wide range of media, and promoting an understanding of how these have and are being used.
In particular, given that we live in an increasingly technological culture I believe that media literacy needs to be addressed in classrooms. Media literacy involves fostering an awareness of what meanings lie hidden – sometimes subtly, other times not so subtly – in all media texts, and understanding the way pleasure works in and through the media.
The fifth and final idea is that the curriculum relates to students’ lives.
Creative development is an intellectual pursuit. As the world presents new challenges, we need new ideas to address the new challenges. The art classroom is a perfect environment to prepare students to think outside of the traditional modes and means of problem solving. By opening students up to the world, providing them with the means of expression and making art personally relevant I hope to create a space in their lives where creative development becomes a lifelong passion.
Art Education Experience 2006-2009
Teacher
• Assistant Director / Lead Classroom Teacher – Creative Art Start summer camp, summer 2007 and 2008, K–9th grades. Lead lessons and monitor independent art activities in studio, media and wood working arts summer camp.
• Studio Teacher – LREI Spring Arts Festival, spring 2007 and 2008, 7th–12th grades. Lead Animal Painting and Clothed Figure Painting workshop.
• Teacher – Alligator Soup after school program at The Allen-Stevenson School,
spring 2008 - 2009, 1st–3rd grades. Developing and executing curriculum.
• Mentor – spring 2008. Currently mentoring an LREI Senior during her internship trimester; student focused on pursuing a career in fine art painting.
Substitute Teacher
• Studio Art Teacher / all subjects – Elizabeth Irwin High School, 2008 - 2009.
• Wood Shop and Studio Art Teacher – The Allen-Stevenson School, 2007–2009.
Student Teacher
• Elizabeth Irwin High School, spring 2007 and 2008, 9th–12th grades. Work in both studio and media arts classrooms. Develop drawing, painting and printmaking exercises and projects in studio. Develop narrative and documentary film and video projects in the media arts classroom.
• The Allen-Stevenson School, fall 2007, K–9th grades. Worked extensively in studio art, wood shop and media arts classrooms.
• Little Red School House, fall 2006, 5th–8th grades. Focused primarily on middle school studio arts. Helped lead artist pastiche painting and animal identity puppet making projects.
Work Experience 1997–2009
PiecesforLeases.com
• Co-own set production and design company specializing in creating and renting copyright cleared artwork.
• Create, develop and maintain collection of unique artwork for film and television and commercial production use (NBC Universal, FOX Broadcasting, The United States Postal Service, Corzine for Governor ’05, Novartis).
• Designed, painted and built sets for over a dozen commercial spots for Scholastic Books that are seen by over a million children every week.
Art Handler / Installer
• Select placement, install and light all types of art pieces for the CUE Art Foundation.
Production Design
• Production Designer – Short Film: Bomb (Ian Olds), Live At Five (Averie Storck), Future Imperfect (Chicken Films), No Shoulder (Sanguine Film), April Winter (Storyville Pictures).
• Set Decorator – Commercial Television: Celebrex (Pfizer), The Hillbillys (Sony), The Greenbriar (Paul Gulaner Films), Action Man (Directors’ Film Company), Starburst Pink and Car (Onesuch Films).
Designed and built all sets, generated special effects and original props, shopped for props and dressed sets. On Location work in Costa Rica, Granada, Iceland, The Netherlands and Japan.
Documentary Filmmaking
• Assistant to the Producer – A Moment In The World (Angelina Jolie, director).
• Managed digital photo archive and generated contact sheets of thousands of images for corresponding book project, A Moment In The World.
Education and Certification
• New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development: MA in Art Education, K–12, Summa Cum Laude, May 2008.
• New York State Certification: Visual Art, K–12.
• New Jersey State Certification: CEAS, Teacher of Art.
• Syracuse University, School of Visual and Performing Arts: BFA in Film, May 1997.
Art Related Skills
• 16mm filmmaking and Digital Video production
• Digital and 35mm still photography
• Mac OS: Photoshop CS3, InDesign CS3, Illustrator CS3, iMovie, Garage Band
• Painting and drawing in all media
• Printmaking: copper plate etching, laser cut plexi-glass etching, wood block, type-setting, linoleum-block and rubber stamp printing (studied with artist Kiki Smith)
• Sculpture: woodwork – both sculptural and basic carpentry/construction - clay, plastiline, fimo, plaster casting, ceramics
• Collage, assemblage, papier mâché, basic sewing, multi media and recycled materials
• Able to speak, read and write Spanish at a moderate level
