Art Making & Community Building

Almost daily, students who take classes here tell me how much they love this art school. The spacious classrooms, the high caliber instructors, and the gardens all contribute to an artful environment.

Creativity Flourishes Most Abundantly When Shared!

I was reading an article about the artist Olive Rush, a classically trained artist, who helped create a vibrant arts community in Santa Fe. Now Rush’s legacy is being preserved as a nonprofit with the opening of the Olive Rush Studio and Art Center. I was struck by her emphasis on Community, Exchange, and Mentorship. Her opinion that creativity flourishes most abundantly when nurtured through generosity and shared vision is a view that I whole heartedly agree with.

Tom Glover offers a new, and I think, stimulating course: Find a Master, Be a Master (SA 2). Focus on a master of your own choosing, gather information on that master and apply what you see and learn to your own work. Part of the fun and learning experience is sharing your artist with others, as you develop your own voice.

Joshua Langstaff offers a new approach to Representational Drawing (SA 5). First, he introduces students to the time-tested methods of Classical realist drawing, rooted in traditional Atelier training. Students who have taken the instructor’s earlier foundational drawing courses, are welcome to pursue more advanced projects such as cast drawings, master copies, still life studies or even personal subjects drawn from photo reference. The one thing I notice in the work of many painters, is that they don’t know how to draw their subject matter, which leads to a poor painting result. This is a way to study drawing with a master and really learn how to draw the subject of your next painting. Joshua also offers Classical Figure Drawing (& Painting) SA 8.

Margaret Dwyer’s The Textures of Fall in Watercolor (SA 7) will help you enhance your landscapes, seascapes florals, and more. Demonstrations of conventional and unconventional mark making techniques, brushwork, and informed color choices, are all part of this class. Some playful studies may inspire you to go in your own direction with more developed pieces.

Anthony Alemany’s Sculpting the Torso from Life (SA 14) is an excellent way to approach the process of sculpting in clay. Inspired by the 19th century rediscovery of fragmented Classical works, sculptors like Rodin embraced the torso as a subject in its own right. Working with a live model, Anthony will demonstrate how to build armatures, and help you systematically study anatomy with proportional accuracy. Open to all levels.