Face It
I merged my long-held love of the visual arts with my brain science training to study caricature psychology—i.e. why does caricature work, and what makes likeness so elusive to capture?
I had the opportunity to teach (twice) "Face It," a full-semester, for-credit course to students in the MIT/Tufts/Harvard triangle, offered through the Tufts ExCollege. This course explored the fusion of art and science in the development and application of caricature through creative, physiological, and neurological lenses. Discussions ranged from the use of caricature in bio-facial composites for forensic criminal identification to political caricature, caricature ethics, the science of attractiveness, optical illusions, and more.
Face It
I merged my long-held love of the visual arts with my brain science training to study caricature psychology—i.e. why does caricature work, and what makes likeness so elusive to capture?
I had the opportunity to teach (twice) "Face It," a full-semester, for-credit course to students in the MIT/Tufts/Harvard triangle, offered through the Tufts ExCollege. This course explored the fusion of art and science in the development and application of caricature through creative, physiological, and neurological lenses. Discussions ranged from the use of caricature in bio-facial composites for forensic criminal identification to political caricature, caricature ethics, the science of attractiveness, optical illusions, and more.
Face It
I merged my long-held love of the visual arts with my brain science training to study caricature psychology—i.e. why does caricature work, and what makes likeness so elusive to capture?
I had the opportunity to teach (twice) "Face It," a full-semester, for-credit course to students in the MIT/Tufts/Harvard triangle, offered through the Tufts ExCollege. This course explored the fusion of art and science in the development and application of caricature through creative, physiological, and neurological lenses. Discussions ranged from the use of caricature in bio-facial composites for forensic criminal identification to political caricature, caricature ethics, the science of attractiveness, optical illusions, and more.
My Role
To foster an establish an environment in which my students could learn actively from each other and enjoy live experiments, I needed to fill seats.
While it was atypical to produce ads for courses at Tufts, I was convinced a strong, Masterclass-esque trailer would drive enrollment. I wrote, directed, and edited.
Results
course overenrolled with an extended waiting list
the university requested I direct trailers for 10 other courses in the catalogue
As the teaser pitched the course as a deliberate fusion of a scientific discipline and an artistic one, the course attracted students from both schools of thought.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I taught a virtual continued-education version of the same course to adults across the country. I embraced the digital "restrictions" as an opportunity to highlight the subjectiveness of perception in conducting one final experiment (with the help of some fellow professional artists):
My Role
To foster an establish an environment in which my students could learn actively from each other and enjoy live experiments, I needed to fill seats.
While it was atypical to produce ads for courses at Tufts, I was convinced a strong, Masterclass-esque trailer would drive enrollment. I wrote, directed, and edited.
Results
course overenrolled with an extended waiting list
the university requested I direct trailers for 10 other courses in the catalogue
As the teaser pitched the course as a deliberate fusion of a scientific discipline and an artistic one, the course attracted students from both schools of thought.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I taught a virtual continued-education version of the same course to adults across the country. I embraced the digital "restrictions" as an opportunity to highlight the subjectiveness of perception in conducting one final experiment (with the help of some fellow professional artists):
My Role
To foster an establish an environment in which my students could learn actively from each other and enjoy live experiments, I needed to fill seats.
While it was atypical to produce ads for courses at Tufts, I was convinced a strong, Masterclass-esque trailer would drive enrollment. I wrote, directed, and edited.
Results
course overenrolled with an extended waiting list
the university requested I direct trailers for 10 other courses in the catalogue
As the teaser pitched the course as a deliberate fusion of a scientific discipline and an artistic one, the course attracted students from both schools of thought.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I taught a virtual continued-education version of the same course to adults across the country. I embraced the digital "restrictions" as an opportunity to highlight the subjectiveness of perception in conducting one final experiment (with the help of some fellow professional artists):