Teaching
"This class was life changing. It felt like the first studio class that I've taken that actually prepared me for the realities of the art world. It got me to think about my work more conceptually and pushed me way out of my comfort zone in the best way possible."
— Advanced painting student, fall 2017
"I am so thankful I took this class because I have more to add to my portfolio, understand how to organize my time to create, and how to discuss with my classmates and fellow artists about my ideas."
— Painting II student, fall 2020
"This course was fantastic! I already knew professor Dedeaux-Norris was an outstanding artist, but it was my first time taking a course with professor Dedeaux-Norris, and the experience was the best I could have. In one semester we were exposed to a huge variety of African American Artists in a very qualitative way. I feel now I can talk and write about the context of African American Art with high confidence because we not only were in contact with the artist's works in class, but also having many discussions via ICON. We had weekly assignments in addition to the class but they did not feel exhausting because we were producing all the time about content we had discussed in class previously, and the professor motivated us all the time to use our creativity and go beyond. It was the best introductory course I could have taken."
- Intro to African American Art spring 2023
Teaching philosophy
My artistic practice is the foundation of my teaching. As an artist working across painting, performance, textiles, video, sound, and research-driven methodologies, I bring students into direct contact with the living processes of creative inquiry. I teach through an interdisciplinary lens that privileges experimentation, embodied learning, and critical curiosity. My classrooms—whether studio, seminar, or hybrid—emphasize iterative research, material exploration, and the cultivation of each student’s distinct creative voice.
I draw from a diverse range of theoretical frameworks that have shaped both my artistic practice and my doctoral work in Transformational Leadership and Coaching. Thinkers such as Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and contemporary authors such as those writing on embodied evolution, somatics, and intergenerational experience inform the way I approach human motivation, creative courage, and patterns of becoming. These theories help students understand their work not merely as formal exercises but as expressions emerging from layered personal, cultural, and psychological histories. My aim is to help students develop practices that are both critically aware and emotionally intelligent—able to integrate intuition, analysis, and self-reflection.
A central component of my pedagogy is what I call the Emergent Studio Visit Protocol (ESVP)—a studio-visit method I am developing as part of my dissertation research. This protocol blends traditional studio critique with coaching principles used in transformational leadership, adapted for creative contexts. The ESVP emphasizes attunement, mindful listening, curiosity-based questioning, and a trauma-informed understanding of how artists develop over time. I have used this approach informally for years, especially in graduate critiques, guiding students to articulate their own artistic motivations, challenge limiting beliefs, and envision sustainable paths for their practice. It offers a holistic method for teaching the “whole artist,” supporting both technical growth and long-term resilience.
My instructional methods are varied and responsive: lectures, demonstrations, workshops, readings, embodied exercises, and hands-on making sessions work together to create a dynamic, rigorous learning environment. I teach students to notice relationships between materials, concepts, and histories—encouraging them to imagine what is possible rather than merely reproducing what is expected. Whether the course is painting, performance, interdisciplinary practice, civic-engaged design, or a theory-based seminar, I ask students to build connections between research and creative output and to develop methodologies that are adaptable and sustainable.
I also prepare students for the practical realities of creative careers. I integrate conversations about contemporary art ecosystems, professional ethics, market shifts, and evolving modes of creative labor. By demystifying grants, residencies, fellowships, teaching pathways, community engagement, and interdisciplinary opportunities, I help students envision futures that align with their values and strengths. My goal is for them to leave my courses not only as capable makers but as thoughtful, informed practitioners who understand how to navigate—and shape—the landscapes they enter.
Across all levels, I promote collaborative inquiry, intellectual humility, and personal agency. I encourage students to see the studio as a site of experimentation, the classroom as a site of collective knowledge-making, and their practice as a lifelong evolution. I believe in teaching students to step into leadership within their own work and to understand their creative development as a process of emergence: iterative, nonlinear, and expansive.
My teaching spans multiple disciplines—painting, performance, contemporary art history, interdisciplinary studio, African-American cultural studies, design methods, civic engagement, and qualitative/autoethnographic research. While diverse, these areas are unified by a core pedagogical commitment: helping students develop the intellectual, creative, and emotional tools to build meaningful and sustainable artistic lives.
I draw from a diverse range of theoretical frameworks that have shaped both my artistic practice and my doctoral work in Transformational Leadership and Coaching. Thinkers such as Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and contemporary authors such as those writing on embodied evolution, somatics, and intergenerational experience inform the way I approach human motivation, creative courage, and patterns of becoming. These theories help students understand their work not merely as formal exercises but as expressions emerging from layered personal, cultural, and psychological histories. My aim is to help students develop practices that are both critically aware and emotionally intelligent—able to integrate intuition, analysis, and self-reflection.
A central component of my pedagogy is what I call the Emergent Studio Visit Protocol (ESVP)—a studio-visit method I am developing as part of my dissertation research. This protocol blends traditional studio critique with coaching principles used in transformational leadership, adapted for creative contexts. The ESVP emphasizes attunement, mindful listening, curiosity-based questioning, and a trauma-informed understanding of how artists develop over time. I have used this approach informally for years, especially in graduate critiques, guiding students to articulate their own artistic motivations, challenge limiting beliefs, and envision sustainable paths for their practice. It offers a holistic method for teaching the “whole artist,” supporting both technical growth and long-term resilience.
My instructional methods are varied and responsive: lectures, demonstrations, workshops, readings, embodied exercises, and hands-on making sessions work together to create a dynamic, rigorous learning environment. I teach students to notice relationships between materials, concepts, and histories—encouraging them to imagine what is possible rather than merely reproducing what is expected. Whether the course is painting, performance, interdisciplinary practice, civic-engaged design, or a theory-based seminar, I ask students to build connections between research and creative output and to develop methodologies that are adaptable and sustainable.
I also prepare students for the practical realities of creative careers. I integrate conversations about contemporary art ecosystems, professional ethics, market shifts, and evolving modes of creative labor. By demystifying grants, residencies, fellowships, teaching pathways, community engagement, and interdisciplinary opportunities, I help students envision futures that align with their values and strengths. My goal is for them to leave my courses not only as capable makers but as thoughtful, informed practitioners who understand how to navigate—and shape—the landscapes they enter.
Across all levels, I promote collaborative inquiry, intellectual humility, and personal agency. I encourage students to see the studio as a site of experimentation, the classroom as a site of collective knowledge-making, and their practice as a lifelong evolution. I believe in teaching students to step into leadership within their own work and to understand their creative development as a process of emergence: iterative, nonlinear, and expansive.
My teaching spans multiple disciplines—painting, performance, contemporary art history, interdisciplinary studio, African-American cultural studies, design methods, civic engagement, and qualitative/autoethnographic research. While diverse, these areas are unified by a core pedagogical commitment: helping students develop the intellectual, creative, and emotional tools to build meaningful and sustainable artistic lives.
courses
Selected (click for more info)
Introduction to African American Art
|
Advanced Painting
|
Painting II
|
Concepts in Drawing
|
Graduate Drawing and Painting Workshop
|
all courses
Spring 2025
PNTG:2420:0001 Painting II
AFAM:1900:0001Diverse Topics in African American Studies
ARTS:4195:7672 BFA Exhibition
Fall 2024
PTNG:4100:0001 Advanced Painting (Portfolio and Professional Practice)
PTNG:4100:0001 Graduate Drawing and Painting Workshop
ARTS:4195:1622 BFA Exhibition
Spring 2024
AFAM:1140:0001 Introduction to African American Art (Radical Presence: Black Contemporary Art)
PTNG:4100:0001 Advanced Painting (Portfolio and Professional Practice)
ARTS:4195:1622 BFA Exhibition
Fall 2023
PTNG:4100:0001 Graduate Drawing and Painting Workshop (The Artist Talk)
PTNG:4100:0001 Advanced Painting (Portfolio and Professional Practice)
ARTS:4195:1622 BFA Exhibition
Spring 2023
AFAM:1140:0001 Introduction to African American Art (Radical Presence: Black Contemporary Art)
PTNG:4100:0001 Advanced Painting (Portfolio and Professional Practice)
ARTS:4190:1052 Honors in Studio Art
Fall 2022
PTNG:4100:0001 Advanced Painting (Portfolio and Professional Practice)
PNTG:6475:0001 Graduate Drawing and Painting Workshop (Ritual Practices)
Spring 2022
ARTS:4195:6117 BFA Exhibition
ARTS:4190:6643 Honors in Art Studio
Spring 2021
ARTS:4195:1694 BFA Exhibition
ARTS:4190:2244 Honors in Studio Art
PNTG:6499:1339 Individual Instruction in Painting
Fall 2020
PNTG:6475:0001 Graduate Drawing and Painting Workshop (Contending with the Contemporary)
PNTG:2420:0001 Painting II
URES:3994:1172 Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects
Spring 2020
DRAW:4310:0001 Advanced Concepts in Drawing
ARTS:4195:7150 BFA Exhibition 7
DRAW:3310:0002 Concepts in Drawing
ARTS:4190:8897 Honors in Studio Art 1
ARTS:7000:8810 M.F.A. Written Thesis
PNTG:2420:0001 Painting II
Fall 2019
DRAW:4310:0001 Advanced Concepts in Drawing
PNTG:2420:0002 Painting II
Summer 2019
PNTG:6499:5827 Individual Instruction in Painting
Fall 2018
DRAW:3310:0001 Concepts in Drawing
PNTG:6475:0001 Graduate Drawing and Painting Workshop
URES:3993:2183 Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects
Summer 2018
PNTG:6499:1617 Individual Instruction in Painting
Spring 2018
DRAW:4310:0001 Advanced Concepts in Drawing
ARTS:4195:9265 BFA Exhibition
PNTG:2420:0002 Painting II
Fall 2017
PNTG:4100:0001 Advanced Painting
DRAW:3310:0002 Concepts in Drawing