The Atelier Studio Program of Fine Arts' workshops are offered in July, October and March. The workshops give part-time students a taste of the intensity and momentum offered in the full-time program. It has been a successful way for potential full-time students to experience the instruction given by The Atelier teaching staff.
The day-to-day study in this program creates momentum for individual growth. We give intense one-on-one instruction tailored to individual needs.
Students begin by drawing a plaster cast or still life in charcoal, developing their ability to render accurate proportions and value relationships. As students progress, they are introduced to the fundamentals of oil and/or pastel techniques, composition and color.
The Atelier Studio Program of Fine Arts' workshops are offered in July, October and March. The workshops give part-time students a taste of the intensity and momentum offered in the full-time program. It has been a successful way for potential full-time students to experience the instruction given by The Atelier teaching staff.
The day-to-day study in this program creates momentum for individual growth. We give intense one-on-one instruction tailored to individual needs.
Life drawing is at the core of any serious program of fine arts. In the class, students draw from the figure in pencil. Each drawing is created over a period of several sessions, developing the student's eye for accurate proportions, gesture and anatomy.
This two-day workshop includes a lecture and demonstration on the use of controlled lighting for a consistent light source resembling natural light. The hands-on portion of the workshop will be a day and a half of working together on still-life setups using various artificial lighting techniques. We will go through a series of steps that will demonstrate some of the various lighting options, as well as using light and shadow as part of the compositional element. Once a satisfactory setup has been established with both the still life and the lighting, participants will be given the option to paint a color sketch of the still life from their setup or continue by working with different light and or setups. If painting, this will enable you to work through the process of painting with and from artificial light.
Full lecture, demonstration and workshop Length: 2 days Tuition: $250 Limit: 10 students
As a practicing painter you may have heard the quote, “Value does all of the work, but color gets all of the credit!” Though this is true, in this workshop Bridget hopes to help students discover that color does a whole lot of work, too. The workshop will start with color definitions, discussion of the color wheel, and color-mixing exercises you can work on to improve your color seeing. Then students will advance to the practical application of these skills by painting a “block-in” of color notes for a simple still life. The second and third days will focus on understanding how the color of the light source affects your subject. Students will paint a still life under a warm light source and then paint the same still life again the following day under a cool light source to study color temperature. If you are intrigued by color and would like a few more tools to think about practical application of color in your work, Bridget would love to work with you. Some understanding of value will be helpful as value will be discussed, but the focus of the class will be on color.
Photo reference with illustration by Christine Mitzuk
With David Ginsberg and Christine Mitzuk
How DO they do that?! Are you uncertain, or do you have questions about how to create a picture of things that don't exist? This could be a posthumous portrait, a picture of something historical, or something completely fictional. You know you need references but don't know what to do.
In this workshop, we'll share information, tips, and tricks about how to know what kind and how much reference you need, pictorial as well as legal considerations, what kind of reference is available to artists, and ways to shoot your own reference by either working with a photographer who has the ideal gear, or using what you have available if you have budget and/or time constraints. Come with questions!
On Friday there will be a presentation and demonstration at The Atelier. For attendees taking the full workshop, please come with rough sketches. Please be prepared to stay past 4PM so we may talk with you about your sketches so you have an idea of what you'll need to prepare for the rest of the workshop. Please consider these things: any special clothing or costuming you may need; what is the setting, time of day, indoor or outdoor lighting; props that may be needed to fill in your sketch. If need be, you are welcome to bring a friend or hire your own model for the photo studio portion of the workshop, otherwise we will rely on fellow attendees or yourself to model for photo reference.
On Saturday and Sunday, the hands-on portion will be at David's photography studio. During the hands-on portion, attendees will get to capture reference based on their sketches.
Full lecture, demonstration and workshop Length: 3 days Tuition: $300 Limit: 10 students
In this workshop, students will build their understanding of how basic 3-dimensional shapes can be used to conceptualize human anatomy on a much deeper scope. Using casts, we will use large abstract shapes to break down anatomy to better understand, and thus represent, our subjects. Students will walk away from this workshop with a stronger knowledge of how to prioritize anatomical forms, and how to abstract these forms into simple 3-D shapes. As they say, mastery comes from mastering the basics. Beginning any technical drawing with simple abstract structures better informs an artist whether their initial block-ins are solid and sound. Speaking the language of shape in space will equip an artist with confidence in their starts, and a more dimensional understanding of the human form.
This class includes a lecture and hands-on workshop. Joy's lecture will discuss how to present your art professionally on an artist's budget, designing an efficient workspace, and the basic tools of the trade needed to repurpose and craft beautiful one-of-a-kind frames. She will give a demonstration on constructing a frame, glass cutting, and assembling a framed piece of art with basic framing tools. You will walk away with a list of tools and knowledge to create your own winning combinations.
Joy Wolfe had a custom framing business for many years and also worked as an interior designer helping her clients with art and framing selections. Many of her past clients were established painters in Minnesota. She is well versed in creating beautiful and stimulating aesthetics with fine art as the focus. She has had the pleasure of working alongside artists at every level and now chooses to work with emerging artists who are looking to grow their art into a business.
This workshop will be a process and preliminary work focused class that will take place over the course of two weekends. The objective of the workshop will be the creation of preliminary work needed to execute a finished outdoor composition involving a clothed figure. Two Saturday afternoons will be spent out “in the field” working from a live model to create sketches, develop color studies, and gather reference images (photographs). Two Sunday afternoons will be spent working in-studio from the created reference materials to develop a well thought out, smaller scale, full-color composition. The goal by the end of the workshop will be for students to have on-hand the necessary preliminary work and knowledge to create a finished outdoor figurative composition back in their own studios.
Supply list:
a variety of smaller panels or canvases, 12” x 16” and smaller
oil-painting equipment (paints, brushes, tarp, palette, paper towels, etc.)
French easel or other portable outdoor painting easel
Andy will contact the students closer to the time of the workshop to briefly go over the supply list and location for the outdoor portion of the workshop.
John F. Carlson, in his groundbreaking 1929 book, Elementary Principles of Landscape Painting, urges us to study the expressive properties of line, mass, and color. He states that it is a delusion to think that if a painter can merely “copy nature” well enough, he is creating a work of art, that he has to merely get a certain “likeness” of the things before him. He states that, rather, a painter must see through his motif, into its significance, and then choose his means accordingly. But how does one do that?
This workshop is designed to answer that question. We will plant the seeds of creative expression; we will impart a solid means to analyze and consider the quality of interest that a motif holds for us: the IDEA!
We will learn how to single out that transmittable, personal impression of some ONE QUALITY in the quantity before us, and get closer in our quest to understand and create true works of art! Each day of the 3-day workshop begins with a lecture and/or demo. Afternoons we paint outdoors.
All levels welcome.
Full lecture and workshop Length: 3 days Tuition: $500 Limit: 17 students
