About Us
Fred Ross ARC Chairman
Founder and Chairman of the Art Renewal Center®, Ross is the leading authority on William Bouguereau and co-author of the published Catalogue Raisonné William Bouguereau: His Life and Works. Ross received his MA in art education from Columbia University. His speeches and essays are read by over 300,000 art professionals, educators, students and fans each year; and have become required reading in countless classrooms. He has given lectures and speeches at prominent venues including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sotheby’s NY, The Dahesh Museum, NY, the Berkshire Museum, MA, The Wadsworth Athenaeum, CT, the MEAM Museum, Barcelona, as well as university campuses among other venues. Ross is also a well-known collector of 19th Century European painting and of Contemporary Realism, being published in numerous magazine and newspaper articles including Forbes Magazine and Fine Art Connoisseur among others. Ross has also been a frequent Juror in numerous competitions and is an ARC Salon and ARC Scholarship judge.
Dr. Vern Swanson
Swanson has his PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, England and was the Director of the Springville Museum of Art, Utah, where he has served for over 30 years. He is a lecturer/scholar/writer and expert on 19th Century European Art and Russian Art through the 20th Century. Swanson is the leading authority on Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and John William Godward and author of the Catalogue Raisonnés for both artists. In total, the number of books Swanson has published is well into the teens.
Peter Trippi
Former Director of the Dahesh Museum of Art, Trippi is now the Editor of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, which provides art collectors and enthusiasts with in-depth editorial coverage of historical and contemporary representational art authored by well-known experts. Mr. Trippi is also the leading authority on John William Waterhouse,(1849-1917) and the author of J. W. Waterhouse, which was published by Phaidon Press in 2002.
Michael John Angel
Michael John Angel is an ARC Living Master™ and regarded as one of the foremost figurative painters alive today; with his paintings hanging in both public and private collections on both sides of the Atlantic. From 1982 to 1988 he was the Director of the National Portrait Academy in Toronto, Canada, and from 1992-1995 the Assistant Director of the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. In 1997, his school, the Angel Academy was founded with the assistance of Lynne Barton. Angel Academy is now one of the most successful Atelier Schools in the world, requiring of its students the highest standards of traditional techniques.
Juliette Aristides
Juliette Aristides is an ARC Living Master™ and founding member of the Water Street Atelier with Jacob Collins, Aristides is a recipient of the Elisabeth Greenshields Grant; and founded the Classical Atelier at Gage Academy of Fine Art in Seattle, Washington. She has authored three books, Classical Drawing Atelier, Classical Painting Atelier, and Lessons in Classical Drawing, which includes an instructional DVD and quickly became a best seller. Her books have become well received guidelines for drawing and painting.
Daniel Greene
Greene is an ARC Living Master™ and renowned portrait artist whose work can be found in more than 700 public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution and the White House. Greene was elected to the Pastel Society of America's Pastel Hall of Fame in 1983, and in 1995 received the American Society of Portrait Artists' John Singer Sargent award. In 2001 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Portrait Society of America. Mr. Greene is the author of two definitive books, Pastel and The Art of Pastel which have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Chinese. Numerous articles about his work have appeared in the Art News Magazine, Artists Magazine, American Art Review Magazine, American Artist Magazine, Gannett Newspaper, In New York Magazine, International Artist Magazine, McCall’s Magazine, New York Daily News, New York Magazine, New York Newsday, New York Post, New York Times, Pastel Journal, Plein Air Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The World and I, Where Magazine, Artists and Illustrators Magazine (England), Disegnare & Dipingere (Italy) and Artistes Magazine (France). He has also been featured on CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News, New York 1, PBS, and NHK Japan television.
Dr. Gregory Hedberg
Dr. Gregory Headburg is the Director of the Department of European Art at the world renowned Hirschl & Adler Galleries in Manhattan. He received his BA in Art history from Princeton University and his PHD from New York University. He was the former Chief Curator of the Wadsworth Antheneum, and was the first professional Director of the New York Academy of Art. He has worked tirelessly throughout his life to bring back a re-appreciation for traditional painting and was one of the first experts in the 19th century field.
Gabriel Weisberg
Weisberg is a world expert in French Naturalism and a writer, lecturer, and scholar. He is the author of Against the Modern: Dagnon-Bouveret and the Transformation of the Academic Tradtion, and a contributing writer to ARC. His research and work on Jules Breton, Jules Adler, Albert Besnard, Jean-Charles Cazin and Theodule Ribot, have helped reestablish an awareness and appreciation of the entire 19th century.
Daniel Gerhartz
Daniel Gerhartz is an ARC Living Master™ and has been featured in numerous publications including the hardbound book, Creative Oil Painting: Techniques from 15 Master Painters by Stephen Doherty. His teaching credentials include the Scottsdale Institute and his work is included in the permanent collection of the West Bend Art Museum in Wisconsin and the Huntsville Museum of Art in Alabama. Gerhartz also won Best of Show in the 1st international ARC Salon Competition in 2004, and is one of the few living realists to successfully penetrate the secondary market; with works selling at important auction houses including Sotheby's.
Daniel Graves
Daniel Graves is an ARC Living Master™. He was a student of Richard Serrin at the Villa Schifanoia Graduate School of Fine Art, and studied under Nerina Simi, daughter of the Florentine painter, Filadelfo Simi, a student of Gérôme. Daniel Graves went on to found The Florence Academy of Art in 1991, where he still serves as the Academic Director. In April 2008 Daniel Graves and The Florence Academy of Art received the Excellence in Art Education Award from the Portrait Society of America. The academy’s programs in Florence, Sweden and the U.S. are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.
B. Eric Rhoads
B. Eric Rhoads is the Founder and Chairman of Streamline Publishing, Inc., publisher of Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, which provides art collectors and enthusiasts with in-depth editorial coverage of historical and contemporary representational art authored by well-known experts. Rhoads also publishes PleinAir, a magazine focused on representational landscape painting with in-depth coverage of historical and contemporary artworks painted en' plein air and in studio and the Plein Air Convention. The company also produces artist videos with many masters including ARC Living Master™ Max Ginsburg. Rhoads, an entrepreneur, founded the company in 1986 and produces other magazines and conferences. He is a well known author and blogger on art marketing, has released a DVD series for artists on art marketing, and is also a landscape and figurative painter.
Patrick Wilshire
Patrick Wilshire is the Director of the Association of Fantastic Art, dedicated to the promotion, recognition and elevation of the art of imaginative realism. This genre includes works that were heavily influenced by the storytelling paintings of the 19th century; artists such as Burne-Jones and John William Waterhouse. It is the organization behind the groundbreaking IlluXCon symposium started in 2008, and the Illustration Exchange, the online nexus for collectors of original paintings, drawings and sculpture from this style of realist art. In addition he is the author of Visions of Never: The Collection of Fantastic Art, (2009), The Art of the Dragon: The Definitive Collection of Contemporary Dragon Paintings (2012), and the History of Imaginative Realism. He was also honored to be the guest curator of AT THE EDGE: Art of the Fantastic, mounted at the Allentown Art Museum, PA, in June of 2012.
Jeannie Wilshire
Jeannie Wilshire is the Co-Director of the Association of Fantastic Art, dedicated to the promotion, recognition and elevation of the art of imaginative realism. The AFA is the organization behind the groundbreaking IX symposium, the annual celebration of imaginative realism (founded in 2008) and the IX Exchange, the online nexus for collectors of original paintings, drawings and sculpture from this style of realist art. In addition, she is the author and designer of Visions of Never: The Collection of Fantastic Art (2009) and the forthcoming History of Imaginative Realism. She is also the designer of IlluXConcepts Volumes 1-5 and The Art of the Dragon: The Definitive Collection of Contemporary Dragon Paintings (2012). She was honored to be a guest curator of AT THE EDGE: Art of the Fantastic, the most comprehensive exhibition of imaginative realist art ever to be mounted in the US. AT THE EDGE premiered at the Allentown Art Museum in June of 2012, drawing record crowds to the museum. She is currently curating the upcoming infra:REAL - The Art of Imaginative Realism show for the Jonathan Levine Gallery in NYC, which premiers in August of 2015. Together with her husband, Patrick, she has been collecting original imaginative realist art for 15 years.
Julie Bell
Julie Bell is an ARC Living Master™ who was born in Beaumont, Texas. A former competitive bodybuilder, her knowledge of anatomy has allowed her to imbue her figures of humans and animals with grace and strength. Julie's work in the fantasy and science fiction field has appeared on hundreds of book covers, comic books, trading cards, and various collectibles. Every year, she and her husband, Boris Vallejo, produce the highly anticipated Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell Fantasy Calendar published by Workman. Julie Bell should also be singled out as winning the most awards in any one competition ARC has ever held, in the 2012-2013 Salon winning First Place in the Imaginative Realist Category, First and Third Place in the Animal Category, and five additional recognitions.
Anthony Waichulis
Anthony Waichulis is an ARC Living Master™ and is regarded as the premiere trompe l'oeil painter living today. Celebrated by critics and collectors alike, Waichulis' works have been published in nearly every major art publication worldwide including but not limited to: The Artist's Magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur, American Artist, American Art Review, American Art Collector, Art News and Art-Talk. Anthony has exhibited in a salvo of key venues across the country including the Smithsonian Institute, National Arts Club, Orlando Museum of Art, Butler Institute, Washington Museum of Fine Arts, The World Arts Museum in Beijing as well as many others. He is also the founder of the highly successful Waichulis Studio and co-founder and chief curriculum designer of the International Ani Art Academies project. In 2011 The Waichulis Studio merged with the Ani Art Academies project to form the domestic flagship of the Ani project, The Ani Art Academy Waichulis in Wilkes Barre, PA. Since then the Ani Art Academies project has seen the launch of international Academies in Anguilla, The Dominican Republic, Thailand and Sri Lanka.