I am a painter in oil and watercolor, the main classes I have been teaching at CCAD since 1987. I received my BFA in 1983 from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh PA and my MFA from Ohio University, Athens OH in 1985. You can see my work at ccad.digication.com/carolgriffith/. I have shown widely in the region and am the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artists Grant, a Jentel Artist's Residency and a number juried awards. My work is rather narrative, sometimes ironic, sometimes critical and generally colorful.

As an art educator, I believe art fills a serious gap in today's educational system. Art serves as the best discipline to teach creative problem solving and evaluative/critical thinking. Art is also a direct link to our cultural heritage as that identifies our group identities and our links to our own history. In the studio classroom where technical abilities are sometimes too focused on, these important values can get pushed aside, resulting in a sort of lifeless visual echolalia. That is why I believe try always to ask not just how can I teach a student to do this or do this better but, equally, why should they do this at all?

My solution, in practice, is to always link the technical skill practice to conceptual problem solving assignments. I will introduce each problem in the context of, say, art historical and contemporary artist's practices. I will discuss the assignment as it both relates to successfully mastering the technical skills but also as it leads to successfully communicating a personal solution.