High School Studio Painting Course

B.F.A Cum Laude, University of Pennsylvania, 1994

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1990

I am a classically trained Philadelphia artist, landscape painter, and painting professor.  As a Cum Laude graduate of the coordinated BFA program offered through the Pennsylvania Academy andthe University of Pennsylvania, I am openingmy studio to high school students in the area with the specific idea of preparing the students for a successful career at the Academy, and thereby enabling them to take advantage of the degree program offered through the University of Pennsylvania.  This unique studio opportunity not only allows students access to a first-class education, but also allows them to develop their own creativity and independence of mind, enabling them to proceed through life with confidence on many levels.

This opportunity is also open to any individual who possesses the determination to become a successful representational painter.

The Philosophy

I believe, above all, in encouraging students to think independently and to value originality. Creativity and art, far from being leisure pursuits, are the corner stones of individual thinking, and are a necessary supplement to any academic program. Without originality, students are obligated to think like everyone else. Encouraging creativity in a mind engaged in learning leads to unexpected benefits, and proficiency in one creative field often enhances students’ abilities in another. For this reason, students do not have to be art majors. I am using my own unique approach of teaching art to develop the individual, through opening the creative intellect and broadening the mind of the whole person.

In the visual arts of painting and drawing students develop proficiency in a cognitive activity that engages the whole psyche: the intellect, the body, and the soul. For this reason, I believe it extremely important to create a studio environment where students support, encourage, and learn from one another;where striving for excellence engenders admiration of it in others. While creativity as such cannot be taught, in can certainly be stifled, and I firmly believe that the most effective way to stifle visual creativity is to deprive students of the tools necessary for effective image making. To this end, I have developed a highly specific program aimed at developing the students’ skills of representational painting and drawing.

The Program

I am a “hands on” instructor, in that I employ specific exercises and tasks in order to develop specific skills in my students. This two-year program represents the culmination of years’ of experience conducting painting and drawing classes, and consolidates a wide range of principals into a cohesive plan of study. Students will receive a syllabus outlining the course. The first year concentrates on drawing, progressing from proportion, through perspective, and into lights and darks; the second year focuses on painting, beginning with tonal painting and culminating with full color and layering of paint. This sequential presentation of drawing and painting skills allows students to develop confidence as they go, and cannot be found in any other classroom experience. Classes are limited to ten students, insuring ample individual attention. The overall structureof the program is based on the concept of clearly placed lights and darks on a toned ground to create the image of the third dimension, a skill that will enable students to profit immeasurably from the program offered through the Pennsylvania Academy.

Student Profile and Entrance Requirements

This program caters to intelligent, independent thinkers. Successful students are motivated to fulfill their academic potential, and pride themselves on the fact that they do not think like everyone else. Students do not need to be art majors! There are no portfolio requirements for entry; I am engaging specifically to instruct the students in the elements of image making. Entry into the program is therefore based upon students’ high school transcripts and an entrance interview. Space is limited to ten students, please sign up now!

Tuition and Classes

Please ask about return participant discounts.

The program is a two year program, the first year devoted to drawing and the second to painting. The course begins in September and divides into fall, winter, and spring terms. Classes begin on September 18th, and are held in two time slots: Sundays from 2-5pm. and Tuesdays from 6:30- 9:30 pm. Classes are held in my own Mt. Airy studio, a beautiful, elegant painting studio imbued with an old world feel. Students will be required to draw the first day and to keep a sketchbook throughout the year. All lesson plans will be reinforced through exercisesto be done at home.

Please note that this is the first year of the program; only a drawing syllabus is offered for the 2011/2012 school year. Students may paint with me in Saturday painting classes offered to the general public.

Course 1) Drawing Essentials: Perception

October 2ndth- December11th Sundays/ October4thth-December13th Tuesdays. $495

In this class students receive instruction in a wide variety of techniques and media all aimed at one fundamental concept: eye-hand
coordination, the fundamental principal of representational drawing. This class discus
ses the basics: proportion, measurement, angle and distance, gesture and massing, sight si
zing, and uses a variety of materials such as graphite, conte, charcoal, and pen and ink.
Through demonstrations, exercises, analysis of master drawings, and homework, students will
come out of this class with a clear conception of how to begin a drawing and how to activate a picture plane.

Course 2) Drawing Essentials: Construction and Conception

January 8th- March 11th Sundays / January 10th- March 13th Tuesdays $495 / $445 discount

Students come out of the fall term with the essential skills of representational drawing, and now begin to apply certain rules to the drawing process. The class provides thorough introduction into one and two point perspective and classical design, including golden section divisions of the page. Students strive for the illusion of depth through line weight, examine the structure of linear and biomorphic forms, and return to massing as a manner of examining the structure of the human head.

Course 3) Drawing Essentials: Unification

March 25th- June 10th Sundays / March 27th / May 29th Tuesdays $445 / $ 405 discount

Students continue with an examination of the face through massing, and begin with an introduction to the human form. Students will learn to incorporate full lights and darks into their drawings, further establishing the illusion of depth and allowing them to leave the class with a strong foundation for proceeding into oil paints. Students will have the opportunity to create sustained drawings from various subject matter, allowing them to incorporate the techniques and principals they have practiced throughout the year into a cohesive whole.

Analysis of master drawings as an introduction to art history is part of every course. Students will have access to my library while in class and limited access to my studio while I’m painting. Assistance in portfolio preparation is part of the program in both painting and drawing classes. Field trips to the museum are included in the tuition, to further introduce students to art history and to display how master painters display the skills practiced in class.