For Mathew Bourbon’s second class with the T/AP, the students were tasked with another painting assignment. The teens’ homework from last class was to bring one visual resource from home—it could be anything they are interested in. Once we spoke about the students’ images, they were given more free time in the galleries to collect information. Limiting themselves to the David Bates exhibition, each student had to choose one element that they liked about his paintings; it could be the color, the marks, the texture, the composition, or any other element that caught their attention.

This week, the teens met Matthew Bourbon. Matthew is a painter living in Denton and currently an associate professor of art at the University of North Texas’s College of Visual Arts and Design. As well as being an educator and a fantastic artist, Matthew is also an active art critic, writing for esteemed publications such as Artforum.com, Flash Art, and Artnews, among others.