Amy Hauber

Amy Hauber is an artist and educator residing in Canton, NY where she is an Associate Professor of Art at St. Lawrence University. At St. Lawrence she teaches in the areas of sculpture, ceramic sculpture, digital media and foundations with an emphasis on cross-disciplinary / inter-media studies in all three areas.

Born in Chicago IL and transplanted many times before landing at the age of 12 in her parent’s hometown of Pittsburgh PA, Hauber studied Information Science, English Writing and Fine Arts at both the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University before receiving her MFA in Art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design Carnegie Mellon University and now St. Lawrence University.

Working across media disciplines, her research interests include, among other things, the construction of identity, morality and personal aesthetics within contemporary society.

Hauber has twice been a resident artist in the John Michael Kohler Arts Center's ARTS/industry program, was awarded an honorary fellowship from University of Wisconsin-Madison and has exhibited her work nationally. Hauber’s work has been published and discussed across the country and notably her ceramic-based objects were featured in American Craft Magazine: Portfolio Amy Hauber December/January  2002.

Classes taught and/or currently offered

• FA 121 Intro. to Studio Art
• FA 232 Drawing II - experimental / contemporary practice
• FA 239 Sculpture  & Extended Media I
• FA 240 Sculpture  & Extended Media II - experimental practices, non-traditional materials and casting, metal: fabrication and casting, wood
• FA 249 Ceramics I and
• FA 250 Ceramics II - casting, mold making, assemblage, slip casting and the human form
• FA 269 Digital Media and Culture I
• FA 270 Digital Media and Culture II

SPECIAL TOPICS COURSES

• Experimental Vessels: ceramics and contemporary design.
• Crafting and Punk Politics: INDY ART, CRAFT and DESIGN
• Figure Drawing/Figure Sculpture
• Senior Seminar in the Arts
• All Your Art are Belong to Us [sic]     

Research interests/process

My research interests and curiosities are varied and include just about any and all creative processes, traditional and non-traditional. I am particularly interested in "craft" or "low art" media and processes that have been historically confined to the domestic setting for women and/or children such as clay, fabric, hot glue, etc., and using these processes and materials in new ways and/or combining them with other materials to create new definitions and possibilities.

I tend to search for new types of synthesis. Whether it be through understanding relationships among materials and creating meaningful or aesthetic connections by combining materials and their functions. Other long standing interests that impact my work include media, material and  popular cultures and how these come together to help define things like morality, perception and consciousness.

My Teaching Philosophy

Whatever the reasons that make us the people that we are, with particular perceptive tendencies, I have always been drawn to teaching/learning models that are significantly engaging, that offer opportunities for autonomous experience and expression, and that inspire significant personal investigation within a larger conceptual and/or social context. I also embrace a feminist model of teaching and learning where authoritarian models have no place in the classroom. This means that as educators we are most effective when we are among other things, like knowledgeable and generous, really mainly human: flawed, questioning, emotional and loving.

Finally, within the context of a studio art classroom, I try to always promote the student's awareness of privilege, global positionalities, and social responsibility in any communication: visual or otherwise. In a more practical sense I try to encourage student's "flow" experiences (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) both in and outside of classroom. Many people have lost track of being really, fully immersed in a task and when flow experience is combined with creative endeavors, the result is often increased satisfaction in the process and also more creative, joyful, original and challenging work.