Looking for Faith at the party

Looking for Faith at the Party (Michael Giles)

Michael Giles interviewed by Jody Collins

Michael Giles paintings at the Maker Exchange

Just under the shadow of the Sunsphere, a neat row of politely incongruous shapes vibrate on the dark blue wall of the Maker Exchange in The Tennessean Hotel. Sending the eye from one shape to the next in an electric dance, as though a playing game of Galaga, Michael Giles’ geometric patterns morph in and out of recognizable meaning and simple form—the way a good abstract should. The triangular and linear workings imitate a searchlight in one moment, many moving creatures in another, the structure of a city, quiet jubilation, or thoughtful constructions. The colors strike a balance between electric orange and greens with those of more muted brown, ochre, and white. Sonically, they invoke the notes of Yellow Magic Orchestra’s compositions, dancing across the mind’s eye with each curious evolution and unexpected pop of color.

In his own words Giles’ work is “a search for meaning; of place; of art; of self. But it is also a rumination on whether meaning can exist and how it can be conveyed to a viewer in the form of abstract art.”

Giles cites One Hundred Years of Solitude, Star Trek, and World Cup tournaments as inspirations that reflect the pattern and rhythm he sees in the world, now seen on his canvases. He also contemplates on the writings of French philosopher and metaphysician Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995), who tackled the concept of ‘becoming’ and of ‘creation in how one attempts to find the true meaning in a word by its interactions with other words; finding “true” meaning in that space in between the two. 

“True meaning sparks in the space in between the viewer and the painting; between the artist and the work,” Giles says. “True meaning is perhaps best found in these spaces outside of and surrounding us. Or not.”

Host of Ramblin’ Man Podcast, Jody Collins, sat down with Giles to learn about his art, his life, and passionate career as an arts educator and advocate:

Where are you originally from?

I was born in Venezuela, and we immigrated to the United states when I was around five years old. When we ended up in Ohio because my aunt and uncle were getting a graduate degree at Ohio University. We stayed with them while we got ourselves set up in the states. 

My dad had some trouble finding a job, being an immigrant with a bit of an accent, but he found a company in a small town called Baltimore, OH, that needed a person to handle all their computers, which were new back in 1980-81. When he interviewed for the job he found out that the owner was an older man from Lithuania who had an even thicker accent than he did. So there was no trouble there. He was hired, and that's how I ended up being raised in a small little farm town in central Ohio.

Artist and arts educator Michael Giles

How long have you been an artist?

I suppose I've been an artist from day one. My aunts tell me that even when I was little, in Venezuela, they would give me clay and I would make things that they couldn't make themselves, and I would just draw, doodle, and etc. 

I remember my dad bringing reams and stacks of old connected printer paper with the green and white lines on it and all kinds of code on one side that was no longer needed at the company. I would just take that and draw on it, you know, all day long. That's what I did, I just drew all the time. I suppose I took art more seriously when I got older, moved into middle school and high school. I started really getting into comic books, and wanting to make comics and draw comics. By the time I got to college, I eventually discovered that I just really wanted to continue making art, and to eventually teach art.

Where are you teaching?

I teach at Lincoln Memorial University (LMU), which is a small private liberal arts and research university based in Harrogate, TN.

She Eluded the Trap, Oil, acrylic, and spray paint on canvas, 40 × 30”

What are you teaching?

At LMU I primarily focus on the 2D art. Mostly I teach drawing and painting classes, along with some watercolor courses, as well as some very basic photography and graphic design courses.

Along with my colleague, who handles most of the three-dimensional courses, we both also are involved with teaching courses in art appreciation and art history.

What inspired you to pursue a career in the field of arts education?

It's funny the thing that really inspired me was simply finding out that you can actually make a career in teaching art. I'd never even considered that you could actually teach art in college and make a living and a career from it. I was literally in a class being taught by a person and that is what led me to figure out that this was an option for the future. I had a great teacher in Drawing 1 at Ohio State. His name was John Thrasher and he really engaged with the students. 

What I really noticed from him was how he engaged the non-majors and really made them love to draw and be interested in doing that work. That's when I finally kind of figured out that “hey this is something that's cool and important, it's not just art kids who are in here, it's people outside of art who are learning to love and to make”, and I thought that was really cool. So, I ended up just asking him, “Hey how do you do this? How do you become an art teacher at university?” He explained to me the process–you know, get a BFA, get an MFA, find a job, and start teaching. From there I just decided that's what I'd like to do I think, and I started going headlong into the arts.

But I think one of the important aspects of that story is that I had no idea this was an option. You always think of a job as being something that you see around you. So all I knew was people who worked in offices, people who worked at companies. I thought that's what a job was, and I never even considered that education was a way for me to make a living in the future. I'm very glad that I asked the question, and I'm very glad that I pursued this path. 

“There are many ways to be an artist. I find that being able to teach art, talk about art, and make art is one of the best choices I ever made in my Life.”

Middle: Looking for Faith at the Party

How would you describe your teaching philosophy when it comes to art?

I think my teaching philosophy is one of exploration, I suppose. I want the students to explore the topic at hand whether that be drawing / painting / etc. But I also want them to feel the freedom to explore their creativity, and to gain a relationship to art that maybe they didn't have when they walked into the course. I want to make my classes, whether they be studio or lecture, as fun and as engaging as possible. Art is fun! And I want the students to have fun. I want them to really engage with the material. I want them to engage with the process, and engage with finding something out about themselves. Art is in so many ways about expression of some sort and I want them to have that freedom to express themselves and I want them to find that there is a possibility in art to do that. 

Who are some of your favorite artists, and do they influence your teaching?

Favorite artists? I like Rothko. I like Twombly. I like Jim Lee, from the comics world. There are a lot of artists that I like. Those are the famous ones. I also like a lot of people that I know personally. I love their art, and I love talking with them. But I'm not sure that any of those artists influenced my teaching. Besides, of course, the other educators in my life who I'm always bouncing ideas off of, talking about projects with, and trying to figure out how to do this better. So, I do have influences in my teaching, but I wouldn't say that any of the artwork of the famous artists that we all know, or maybe don't know, would have influenced my teaching, But I suppose they're there in my head. 

How do you balance teaching technical skills with encouraging creativity and self-expression in your students?

He appeared at dawn; a foreigner. Oil, acrylic, and spray paint on canvas, 40 × 30”

I think I take two approaches to this, and it really depends upon whether the students are majors or non-majors. However, I do believe that we have to have a grounding with technical skills that eventually flourishes into creativity. With non-majors it's very easy for them to want to gain a better level of skill, and to be better at drawing or painting or whatever that may be we're teaching. 

Whereas with art majors, sometimes I have to explicitly explain to them that, even though they may have a certain level of skill already, knowing the basics and really engaging with those basics are integral in many ways to becoming a better creative artist. So in a lot of ways, it's kind of balancing things out in a way giving the non-majors who maybe don't have as much skill the confidence they need to let their creativity flow, and then with people who have more technical skill already finding a way to rein them in a little bit so that they start to really realize and analyze why they do what they do, and see how that integrates with the basics of art. 

Do you integrate contemporary technologies into your teaching?

Aside from the learning management systems that are used in contemporary education, I'm not sure that I do employ that many technologies into the teaching. If we have a discussion on a reading, or if we have a quiz of some sort, yes that will be done on their computers. But I think that what I'm teaching in terms of drawing and painting, you know, you need a pencil or you need a paintbrush. These are skills that are hands-on and kind of tried and true. 

What strategies do you use to keep students engaged and motivated?

Going back to what I said earlier, I believe that art is fun. Keeping them having fun and engaged and encouraging them to really interact with the projects and with the materials will keep students engaged. Not to say that things can't get boring because, let's be honest, sometimes doing a still life again can be boring but it's about letting the student know that there is a reason to the madness. And that madness can lead to being able to make better and bigger things in the future. 

Sometimes it really depends upon the student and the class dynamics. What one class really loved in one semester can be something that a different class hates in a different semester. So you have to be able to read the room in a sense, try to figure out what really keeps students engaged, and what keeps them coming back for more. 

Michael Giles art at the Maker Exchange, Knoxville, TN

What are some challenges you face as an arts educator, and how do you address them?

The biggest challenges as an arts educator really come from the administrative side of things. Art is not often looked on as a valuable skill or valuable thing to do in an organization or in an educational curriculum. So sometimes we had to fight the fight of advocating for the arts and advocating for the value that it gives the student and ultimately the world. 

How do you advocate for the importance of arts education within your school or community?

I think one of the things that we have to do as artists is to really advocate for the importance of art and how art affects solutions, problem-solving, and creative thinking. One of the things I always stress to students, who are in the art appreciation lecture courses, is to engage with the arts, whether that be writing, music, painting, drawing, sculpture, etc. I stress the importance that creative thought goes far in the world they're going to enter. 

“art affects solutions, problem-solving, and creative thinking.”

It's about making students, and folks that perhaps don't look at art as a way of making a living, realize that what comes with problem-solving and creative thought is exactly what happens when a painting is being made. Artists have to combine information from various facets of their interests and of their messaging and bring them together to form some sort of an expression that can be shared. 

This is exactly the same kind of thinking that scientists would take when they pull data from different places and spaces to come up with new ideas and hypotheses. I think that being able to see these different ways of thinking that you find in the arts will only help a veterinarian or a banker or any other person who's looking to move things forward in whatever field they have chosen. This same sort of thinking has to be brought out into the community as well. 

The community needs to see the importance of creative thought, how it enriches all facets of life, and all facets of a community. I'm glad to be working with different organizations within the community in East Tennessee that advocate for the arts, that help build new art spaces, and advocate for the creative thought processes that are here. Whether it be with our young people, or with just members of the community at large. 

“The community needs to see the importance of creative thought, how it enriches all facets of life, and all facets of a community.”

What changes or improvements would you like to see in the way art is taught in schools?

One of the improvements I think that can come in how we teach art is kind of covered in the previous question that I just answered. We have to make people see that the creative process leads to advancements. It's something that you see if you look at any job application out there.

They will always ask applicants for jobs if they are “outside-of-the-box thinkers.” Who thinks further outside the box than artists? We would be much better served in all facets of life if we all took art courses, and really developed our creativity.

Is there a memorable moment from your teaching career that reinforced your passion for arts education?

I'm not sure that there is one memorable moment. But one of the great aspects of teaching art is seeing the growth of students in the courses. This happens sometimes over one semester where you see a student become better at what they're trying to do, and make great things. But it especially happens when you are able to help and mentor a student over several years. See how they grow and change. See how they put so much of themselves into an artwork, or into a series of artworks. See those come up in an exhibition at the end of their four years at the university. So those moments always stand out to me. 

An afternoon of waltzes and cockfights prostrated her, ending in tragedy, Michael Giles, 40 × 30”

How can communities better support arts educators and their programs?

It's money right? It always comes down to money, and that's terrible because there is so little money portioned out to the arts. But it's what we need. I think investment in arts education, in after-school arts programming, in professional development for doctors and financiers that includes the arts, and for the elderly and the retired, would go a long way to making us all much happier and better at what we do. I think we have to acknowledge, as a culture, that this kind of creative thinking is what makes us move forward. Then we will see a greater investment in harnessing creative thinking from people. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that there is a quick enough return on investment for us to take that seriously. But we'll try! 

What do you hope your students take away from their time in your art classes?

I want my students to grow. I want them to grow as artists. I want them to feel like the expression they're making is valued and important. 

What advice would you give to someone considering a career in arts education?

The advice I would give someone considering an arts education career is to go ahead and do it. You can make a living as an arts educator. What better way to spend your time than making art, talking about art, and sharing art with people? I would also advise them to be prepared for challenges. Most people don't look at art, and at artists, as a viable way to exist and to live. But I think that if we look around we'll see that there are artists everywhere. 

They're not all going to be famous New York superstars, but the person crocheting during their break at work is an artist. The person selling ceramics at the farmer's market is an artist. The person teaching the after-school YMCA program in the arts is an artist. There are many ways to be an artist. I find that being able to teach art, talk about art, and make art is one of the best choices I ever made in my Life.

“A creator’s someone who creates their own impossibilities, and thereby creates possibilities.”

– Gilles Deleuze

Michael Giles received a Bachelors in Fine Arts from The Ohio State University and his Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Tennessee. Michael’s Instagram is @fieldhatstudio and his website is fieldhat.com.

Jody Collins is the founder and design mind behind Feral Giant media collective, host of Ramblin’ Man Podcast, and doer of good.