September 2014
Huffington Post Features The Florence Academy of Art
September 30, 2014
| Representational Painter and Journalist, Brandon Kralik, writes about The Florence Academy of Art's new U.S. Campus in his featured blog on the Huffington Post. Kralik speaks with the Florence Academy's founder, Daniel Graves, and painter and director of the new campus, Jordan Sokol, and touches on several provocative topics like the relationship of technique and philosophy as well as the presence of a classical atelier like the Florence Academy within Mana Contemporary. Graves says, "One doesn't just begin by writing poetry. One must start with words and sentences and develop the terminology first and then write the poem. The time that one takes with a painting is the meditation on the subject and that whole time spent is absolutely critical..." | |
 Advanced Painting Project, Florence studio | Kralik muses, "It will be interesting to see how FAA fits into this modern environment..." To read the full article, click here. For information on full time study and workshops at The Florence Academy of Art, click here. |
New ARC Approved™ School
September 29, 2014
| The Academy of Realist Art has opened a new branch of their already successful ARC Approved™ school. Set in the heart of the beautiful historic city of Edinburgh, Scotland, The Academy of Realist Art (ARA) has a curriculum and teaching techniques modeled on the 19th-century European academies. The aim of the Academy is to help students achieve the highest caliber of skills possible. The foundations the ARA Edinburgh teaches can help professionals and amateurs alike achieve exceptional results well beyond their expectations. To learn more, please visit their atelier page on ARC by clicking here. |  Still Life by Instructor - Zen O'Conor |
HELP! - Bring Skill Based Art to Public Schools
September 26, 2014
 Drawing by 16 year old Sarah Katie Li, charcoal on paper | The Da Vinci Initiative has started a major fundraising campaign through Kickstarter to bring skill-based training in the visual arts to public schools K-12. Teaching realist based art skills such as those implemented by Da Vinci and Michelangelo not only aligns with current educational research that other subjects currently embrace, but it also enhances the number of choices students can make when creating their own work. To view the Kickstarter project and video or to donate, click here. |
<i>PleinAir</i> Competition Ends September 30th
September 25, 2014
| PleinAir magazine is currently holding their Annual PleinAir Salon. In the spirit of the French Salon created by the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, this annual competition, with bi-monthly contests leading to an annual Salon Grand Prize winners, is designed to stimulate artistic growth through competition and to reward artists through both recognition and $21,000 in total cash prizes. | |
| Each bi-monthly contest will offer visibility through PleinAir magazine's e-newsletter, digital promotions and awards of materials and supplies. There will be 14 winners (6 overall and 8 by subject category) of each bi-monthly competition who will then be entered into the annual contest. The competition ends September 30th. Click here for more information or to enter the competition. |  |
DVI Educator's Workshops, Seattle, Washington
September 24, 2014
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| Register now for DVI workshops this winter. Each workshop is geared towards art educators and will be held at Gage Academy, home of the Juliette Aristides Atelier, in Seattle, Washington. The first workshop, Perspective for Art Educators, which runs two days, February 28th & March 1st, begins by introducing simplified perspective lessons for elementary students and then quickly builds skills throughout middle school lesson plans. The workshop finishes with advanced perspective for high school students. Complicated perspective problems will also be introduced to improve each teachers’ own skill level with perspective. To register, click here. In the second workshop, Portrait Drawing for Art Teachers, participants will learn how to set up and light a model using classical composition principles. Then, students will draw portraits from life by applying traditional block-in and shading techniques. Throughout the workshop an emphasis will be placed on how to break each skill into lesson plans for use in teachers’ home classrooms. This course will run March 7th and 8th. To register, click here. Both courses are 12 clock hours. To view other DVI courses currently accepting registration in CA and PA, click here. |
Vala Ola Monuments
September 23, 2014
 Vala Ola with Lost Tribes Monument  Clear Vision Monument | ARC Living Master™, Vala Ola, has created two monuments that will be displayed in the Rocky Mountains in Avon, Colorado. About the monument “Lost Tribes” Vala stated: “Lost Tribes represents all the Native American tribes lost to the past. The rich history and tradition of the native peoples of America adds a beautiful layer to this land. Illnesses brought from Europe and warfare sadly caused some of the native tribes to be lost forever. This work of art honors those lost to us. She is strong yet apprehensively looking towards the future.” Of “Clear Vision”, which is the second monument, Vala says: “Clear Vision is a Native American woman who has a sense of the future to come. By her feet is a quartz rattle that light up in the dark when shaken. It symbolizes for me her light from within and her calling on the greater light of all…She knows the road less traveled”. |
Julio Reyes Exhibitions
September 22, 2014
| ARC Living Master™ Julio Reyes will be exhibiting in the Contemporary Realism Biennial in Fort Wayne, IN. | |
| Every two years, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (FWMoA) organizes the Contemporary Realism Biennial, an exhibition of the most compelling trends in realism as explored by the most skilled American and international artists. ARC will be loaning the painting "Headwinds", which won a purchase award in the 2011/2012 International ARC Salon Competition to the museum for this show, which runs until November 30, 2014. |  |
| Reyes will also hold a one man show of his newest paintings at the Arcadia Contemporary Gallery. For more information about these events, please click here. | |
The Florence Academy of Art announces the opening an Academy in the USA!
September 19, 2014
| Starting January 2015, the Florence Academy New York Metro will offer a full time Certificate program in Drawing & Painting with places for 20 students. | |
 Self Portrait by Richard Greathouse | Intensive workshops begin in March. Academic Director, Jordan Sokol, and principal instructors, Amaya Gurpide and Richard Greathouse, are all painters trained in the philosophy, language of instruction, and methodology guiding the Florence studio. As a result, students from the New York Metro campus who wish to study abroad may transfer seamlessly into the same level in the program in Florence or at the academy’s branch in Mölndal, Sweden, or spend a trimester or more of study as an exchange student in one or both campuses abroad, without experiencing any difference whatsoever in methodology, curriculum or teaching style. This offers students a truly unique experience to study internationally and with a variety of Florence Academy instructors. |
for information and details on how to apply. Click here to download the pdf. | |
MEAM Sculpture Exhibit
September 18, 2014
| The European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM), an ARC Allied Organization, is running an exhibition titled “Some sculpture, please!”. The exhibit focuses on European sculpture of the twentieth century with the aim of drawing more attention to this somewhat neglected medium of sculpture. |  |
| With nearly 300 works, including marble, bronze, plaster and terracotta, the exhibit explores late 19th to 20th century sculpture, from Rodin to Tommasi. This highly original exhibit highlights many twentieth century sculptors who are not always remembered and given the credit they deserve. To learn more about this exhibit, please click here. To see a video preview of this exhibit, please click here. | |
<i>PleinAir</i> Award Winner Featured in Magazine
September 17, 2014
 Cover Painting by Anne Blair Brown  PleinAir Magazine Award Winning Painting 2013-2014 International ARC Salon Brisk Evening by John Pototschnik | John Pototschnik, winner of the PleinAir Magazine Award in the ARC International 2013-2014 Salon, has been featured in an article in the August/September 2014 issue in coordination with this award. “The gentle narrative found in my paintings evolves as the images take shape,” explains John Pototschnik… “It is a natural, unforced means of expressing the way I wish life was, and the way it could be again. I think of the paintings as expressions of the America we all love...” The ARC Salon continues to grow every year with greater and more diversified publicity and a continual increase in the number of artists entering. ARC is approaching the start of its 11th annual ARC Salon Competition, scheduled for 2014/2015 which will include several new exciting awards. This is sure to be our biggest competition yet with the largest amount of cash awards and publicity to date. Placing as a top winner will certainly give an artist his or her big break in the field. ARC will be accepting entries from October 1, 2014 through the beginning of 2015. If you are an artist, don't miss out on your chance to compete. |
| To buy a copy of the magazine or subscribe to PleinAir, please click here. | |
IlluXcon Begins Tomorrow
September 16, 2014
| IlluXcon is the ground-breaking art show, symposium, and celebration dedicated solely to imaginative realism. This event, beginning on September 17th through Sunday September 21st, brings artists, students, collectors, and art fans together for an annual gathering intended to inspire and create further awareness and zeal for imaginative realism and all that’s encompassed in the realm of the fantastic. Tickets for the full 5-day event ($175) are available online at www.illuxcon.com; single day tickets ($32) for Saturday/Sunday ONLY are available from the Allentown Art Museum and TicketLeap (see museum website for details). Allentown Art Museum – 131 North Fifth Street, Allentown, PA 18101 |  Joan of Arc by Michael C. Hayes |
New Video on ARC
September 15, 2014
| Artist and art instructor Robert Florczak has created a video lecture for Prager University entitled “Why is Modern Art So Bad?”. The five minute lecture supports the return of classical standards in art and clearly shows you why. It does a great job of showing the failures of modern art, a subject that has become a source of much needed debate in the art world. To view the video, please click here. |
BACAA Workshops
September 12, 2014
 Shrine by Noah Buchanan, Marla Gorretis | The Bay Area Classical Artist Atelier will be hosting a number of exciting workshops, classes and open model sessions this fall. Some of the workshops that still having remaining spots are listed below: |
| 1. Noah Buchanan - Tuesday, Evening Figure Painting Sessions. 2. Linda Dulaney - Tuesday & Thursday, Daytime Portrait Drawing and Painting classes with a live model and natural north light. 3. 2 and 3 day workshops with Sean Cheetham and Tony Pro. 4. Noah Buchanan and Linda Dulaney - Stanford Artistic Lecture and observations of the cadaver. 5. Steve Perkins - Two separate workshops October 27-31 and Nov 3-7, 2014. Please click here for more information. | |
Chiaroscuro: Impressions and Imprints
September 11, 2014
| Show opens Friday, September 12, 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm The Florence Academy of Art opens an Alumni Exhibition at the Richard J. Massey Foundation. To view the work on exhibit, visit www.therichardmasseyfoundation.org. Richard J. Massey Foundation 601 West 26th Street Suite 1385 New York, NY 10001 The show will continue through October 8th with visits by appointment. Please contact Marguerite Soderberg at marguerite@the-massey-foundation.org or by phone at 212-352-1000. |  |
Represent 2014
September 10, 2014
 Portrait of Mark Abouzeid by Jamie Coreth | REPRESENT is an exciting debut exhibition showcasing some of today's most promising representational and figurative artists from all over the world but who have all met and trained together in Italy. Each of them has gone through a rigorous academic training at one or more of the three world-acclaimed academies in Florence. Here, they have developed the key set of artistic skills which underpin their creativity and expression. The exhibition will take place on the 12th-13th of September from 10am to 6pm in the heart of London at the 20th Century Theatre just off the Portobello Road in Notting Hill. For more information, please click here. |
Miniatures En Plein Air
September 9, 2014
| The California Art Club, an ARC Allied Organization™, reveals the intriguing qualities of small-format artwork with this exhibition, which is on view at its gallery at the historic Old Mill. A reception with the exhibiting artists will be held on Thursday, September 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The display features more than 60 original paintings, small gems no larger than 9 by 12 inches, that capture fleeting moments of time. The selected works include serene seascapes, small town scenery and panoramic landscapes, all of which were created en plein air utilizing some of the techniques that the organization's founders employed more than a century ago; when they inspired the artistic movement known as "California Impressionism". | |
| September 9 - January 11, 2015 The Old Mill - 1120 Old Mill Road, San Marino, CA For more information, please click here. |  |
New Article by Michael John Angel
September 8, 2014
| Michael John Angel, head of ARC Approved Angel Academy of Art in Florence has written a new article about Caravaggio and his painting The Betrayal of Christ. | |
 The Betrayal of Christ by Caravaggio | "During his lifetime, Caravaggio was accused by his enemies (and he had many) of being unable to draw. Most Roman artists of the late 1500s/early 1600s were under the influence of Michelangelo, who maintained that a true artist worked only from imagination; to work from models was cheating." To read the full article, please click here. |
IlluXcon begins on September 17th
September 5, 2014
| The IX symposium is the world's largest exhibition of imaginative realist art. Featuring over 150 artists, the show is a visual feast for all fans of imaginative painting. The artists who will be exhibiting in this show have lent their talents to movies, games, books, galleries and fine art collections across the world, ranging from Magic: the Gathering illustrations to solo exhibitions at prestigious museums. Every artist represented in the show will be physically present during the symposium, making it a wonderful opportunity to meet and talk with these incredibly talented artists, representing countries as distant as the United Kingdom and Australia. | |
| Tickets for the full 5-day event ($175) are available online at www.illuxcon.com; single day tickets ($32) for Saturday/Sunday ONLY are available from the Allentown Art Museum and TicketLeap (see museum website for details). September 17 - 21, 2014 Allentown Art Museum - 131 North Fifth Street, Allentown, PA 18101 |  Leng Revealed by Armand Cabrera |
ARC Greeting Cards Now Available
September 4, 2014
 | The Art Renewal Center is now offering a boxed set of greeting cards featuring some of the most popular paintings in the ARC museum. This beautiful set of 12 cards (1 unique image per card) are printed on heavy cardstock and are blank inside for your own personal messages. They are great as gifts or for use as holiday cards as well. |
| All proceeds from the sale of these notecards goes towards the ARC Scholarship Fund and helping to keep the Art Renewal Center on the web. To purchase a set of cards and to see the images included in this set , please click here. | |
The Trompe L'oeil of Ani Academy
September 3, 2014
| Francesca Anderson Fine Art will feature several new Ani artist's works for their upcoming exhibit, Trompe L'oeil. Specializing in Contemporary Realism and Portraiture, FA Fine art has been hosting popular shows in the Boston
and Lexington area since 1983. September 12 - November 1, 2014 Francesca Anderson Fine Art, Portraits North - 56 Adams Street, Lexington, MA 02420 For more information, please click here. |  |
Selected Work from Florence Academy of Art Alumni
September 2, 2014
 Manna From Heaven by Lori Shorin | The Richard J. Massey Foundation for the Arts and Sciences presents selected work from Florence Academy of Art Alumni. The opening reception for the show will be on Friday September 12, 2014 from 5 - 9 p.m. The show will continue through October 8th, with visits by appointment. Please contact Marguerite Soderberg at marguerite@the-massey-foundation.org or call 212-52-1000 for more information. To see more on other exhibitions, please click here. |