Charleston Area - SC Art School

NEW CLASSES IN FOUNDATION DRAWING STARTING APRIL 6, 2010

LEARN TO DRAW!

This session is now in progress but there is still time to join.  Because this class is small, you may come in and make up the beginning sessions.  Only a few weeks left to do this and then, as each class builds on the other, it will be too late.  This will be the last regular session that I will have before I move back to Pennsylvania.  If you ever wanted to really learn what makes a great work of art, this is your chance.  You will never be the same after you find out how Michelangelo through Rubens through Cassatt created their works.  You must learn your art just as a doctor learns his trade.  Leonardo would have laughed at the idea that to be an artist, one just purchases a blank canvas and buys some oil paints and starts to paint!  How absurd!  But most people today believe this to be true.  As I tell my students, I wouldn't want my dentist to 'just express themselves!' without learning the skills needed and nor should you be expressing yourself without the knowledge of the skills needed to make a great painting. Take the challenge and truly learn what you can do to take your art to new heights... and, if you are a beginner, stop trying to learn by taking myriad workshops and learning one small trick at a time.  Go for it! and learn like you know you should with a solid foundation of skills like the Old Masters!

April Workshops:

• Two Day Color Theory Workshop - April 19th and April 27th - 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (1 hour lunch break) - $140.00

What to Expect As A Beginner

In Foundation Drawing you will learn how to use line rhythm, learn about composition patterns and  abstract design elements underneath each Old Master picture through listening to the lectures and viewing the Old Master paintings on a white board while I draw over them showing you the designs that they used.   Art history is studied in the lectures so you understand where and when all these incredible insights were developed. It is a well rounded course. But it needs one ingredient... your desire! If you desire to be an artist,  you have to work hard and study. It is a fascinating course where art is taught as in the days of Michelangelo where he learned all the skills and all the techniques before he expressed himself. Without the tools for self-expression, you are merely reinventing the wheel. Come and see how that wheel was invented and reap the benefits of years of knowledge handed down from the Old Masters themselves!

Connie Olson

A true work of art is never an accident. Before photography, drawing was taught to everyone. People recorded their vacations, understood the basic principles of art and knew enough to appreciate good art. In today's society with no education in drawing, art patrons try to educate themselves in the only things they think will help... art history and art appreciation. But this is not enough. The missing link for their success in appreciating good art is to understand drawing, the language of art.

The prevailing manner of teaching art in the '60s and '70s was 'just express yourself'. Foundation courses of drawing were not a part of the curriculum. Rules were thrown out in the hopes that students would not be too stiff and academic. Instead, they lost the most basic of rules for any profession: one must learn one's craft!

In today's world, most people I talk to about drawing believe that drawing and painting require neither study nor struggle. They believe you either have it or you don't. But this is not true.  In the Renaissance days, a young boy was brought by his father to the master artist in town in the hopes that the master would take him in. In those days being an artist was a good way to make a living. And, in 6 to 9 years of constant study, these young boys from your average blue collar workers, became the next painters of Florence, Italy. The words talent and genius were rarely used. Through rigorous study, they learned all the skills and all the craft from the master artist.

The caliber of work is determined by the amount of study and work that an artist is willing to do. A true work of art reveals the level of the artist's mind and imagination. It requires time and study as they evolve into a master of their craft. Only then, can the artist have the tools 'to truly express themselves'.

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, Begin it!  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. IT NOW! "Goethe"

Our art school offers art instruction where you can learn to draw!

Serving the Charleston, SC area.

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