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CT&L Faculty Spotlight: Natasha Warshawsky

As we move the CT&L Corner from the weekly newsletter to a blog hosted on the CT&L webpage, I wanted to start with a new, monthly series of Faculty Teaching Spotlights. While I view part of my job as CT&L Director as bringing new ideas and conversations to PCA&D, I also see part of my job as highlighting the great work you and your colleagues are doing as faculty. This month’s spotlight features Chair of Animation and Game Art, Natasha Warshawsky. 

The first thing you should know about Natasha Warshawsky, Chair of Animation and Game Art (and Assistant Professor), is that she is someone who watches the bonus features on DVDs (all of the bonus features). This tidbit points to Natasha’s philosophy of “following the nerds” when it came to finding her community in art school. This also informs their own approach to signaling belonging to new students at PCA&D, such as wearing an Animal Crossing t-shirt on the Friday before classes started, when everyone was on campus for a community lunch and beginning of semester meetings. 

My interactions with Natasha began last fall. In a meeting with Director of Exhibitions Alex Schaufele, I mentioned the idea of an exhibition in the Learning Commons that displayed works ‘in process,’ and Alex immediately thought of an assignment that Natasha had given her students in AGA: that of a composite drawing that showed both the wireframe and final rendering of an animated scene simultaneously. Following up, Natasha explained that this was a professional practice within the field, a version of what math teachers everywhere remind us to do: show your work: “…starting low poly and working up to the final photorealistic render.” 

This connection to industry is indicative of a pedagogical value that Natasha holds openly: that of preparing students to operate independently in the professional world of animation and game art. She used the metaphor of teacher as project manager to describe her teaching style with senior students: “You are helping students manage their own work, and learning how to interact with the supervisor is part of the curriculum, too.” She sees the ability to self-manage as key to tackling freelance work, giving students more options professionally. 

Another key theme of my conversation with Natasha was that of teaching through the curriculum design. As a structured discipline with so many concepts and tools to learn (and new tools being developed as they learn existing ones), the work of sequencing courses is key to laying out a coherent path. Staying in touch with industry, overseeing the student SIGGRAPH chapter here at PCA&D, and encouraging students and alumni to stay involved through conferences and other professional activities keeps Natasha aware of how the field is evolving, which informs the frequent curriculum mapping that she undertakes. That being said, she’s quick to point out that there’s never enough room in the curriculum, citing so many possible paths, including emphasis on narrative storytelling, collaborations across majors, and more. 

With all of this in mind, in a field with a never-ending learning curve, how does Natasha view the task of motivating students? For her, the never-ending learning curve is a feature, not a bug, one that means never getting bored. For students? The curriculum guides students through photorealism in 3D/computer graphics, and also contains story work and concept art, recognizing that students working in animation are trying to make art, not just content. This common value across the majors at PCA&D means engaging not just students’ technical skills (In her words: “Good graphics are more than just resolution.”) and encouraging them to develop their aesthetic sensibilities through critique. With an eye towards an ever-changing industry, Natasha is happy to keep learning (and teaching).

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