Friday, June 15, 2012

The results are in . . . . . . !



First Place: Joseph Brickey
Second Place: Kevin Christman
Third Place: Alex Heinke
First Runner Up: Abigail Tulis
Second Runner Up: Chad Fisher

Judges: Mason Sullivan, Sue Chism & Jiwoong Cheh

Thanks also to our terrific model Esteban Arana, and the hard-working, cool-as-cucumbers competition monitors Niki Covington, Anthony Baus and Devin Cecil-Wishing! 


Left to Right: Alex Heinke, Abigail Tulis, Kevin Christman, Chad Fisher & Joseph Brickey
Winning Sculpture by Joseph Brickey
Final Viewing
This competition is made possible by the generous support of the Morris & Alma Schapiro Fund.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Sculpture Competition Winners Announced This Friday!


This Friday will mark the end of this years Classical Figure Sculpture Competition at the GCA.  Friday evening a panel of judges will award a First Place prize of $10,000; Second Place, $3,000; and Third Place, $2,000.

There will be a reception and viewing this Friday, June 15, 7 - 10pm.

Winners will be announced by 8pm, after which, the studio will be open for viewing.

Event takes place at:

Grand Central Academy
20 West 44th st. between 5th and 6th avenues
6th floor

Refreshments will be served


(Scroll down for more photos)








Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Sculpture Competition is Underway!

Kelsy Landin, Day 1
Our Classical Figure Sculpture Competition kicked off Monday at 9am. The twelve sculptors worked feverishly from 9am - 6pm on Day 1, and afterwards hung out at the first viewing of their work-in-progress. Over the course of the week, the sculptors will model a 32" figure from life with the model posing for 8 hours a day for a total of 40 hours. On Friday, a panel of judges will award a First Place prize of $10,000; Second Place, $3,000; and Third Place, $2,000.

Evening events are free and open to the public - come on by! Refreshments are served!

The remaining events are:

Day 3, Viewing of Works-in-Progress
Wednesday, June 13, 6-7:30pm

Day 5, Awards Ceremony & Reception
Friday, June 15, 7-10pm
*awards will be announced by 8pm, after which, the studio will open for viewing

All events take place at GCA, 20 West 44th Street between 5th & 6th Avenues, 6th floor.

(Scroll down for more photos!)

Pictured left to right: Jeremy Davis and Kevin Christman, Day 1


Day 1 Public Viewing
Day 1 Viewing: Alex Heinke (competing), Liz Beard (Core Student)
Up close & personal

Esteban, our model, going strong at the end of the first day (pictured left, competitor Matt White)

Friday, June 8, 2012

Extracurricular activites: Taxidermy with Rebecca

the flock


If you were at the student exhibition on May 25th, you may have noticed a colorful flock of birds perched among the paintings and drawings.  First year student Rebecca C. Gray has been teaching herself and other students taxidermy.  Her patients are pet shop fatalities, and she intends to use them as subjects when she takes the still life painting class at GCA. 
Rebecca C. Gray and Adrienne Stranger at the operating table
David Troncoso with his first two birds


canary with an attitude!



Thursday, June 7, 2012

Workshop Report: Foreground Studies with Emilie Lee

A few days ago we wrapped up a five day landscape painting workshop that I taught at Inwood Hill Park. We had perfect weather and the surprisingly wild nature of Inwood provided a serene retreat from city life. The park is 196 acres of varied terrain including Manhattan Island’s last untouched forest. Inwood’s northern border is the shoreline of Spuyten Duyvil Creek and on the west a steep forested ridge blocks noise from the west side highway. On top of the ridge, one can enjoy spectacular views up and down the Hudson River and of the Palisades on the opposite shore. In the forest, cliffs and large boulders form caves once inhabited by Native Americans. In this beautiful spot we were able to find a wide variety of subject matter. 

In this workshop I wanted to share some of the things I've learned as a student at the GCA and how that has applied to landscape painting in the context of the Hudson River Fellowship experience.  With this in mind, I planned the majority of our time to focus on drawing and foreground studies.  According to Asher B. Durand in his 1855 Letters on Landscape Painting, this is the best place to start when you are first beginning to work outside: 

Form is the first subject to engage your attention. Take pencil and paper, not the palette and brushes, and draw with scrupulous fidelity the outline or contour of such objects as you shall select…”

When we set ourselves up to paint a landscape, most of us are tempted to choose a wide scene that includes a huge variety of challenges.  We are forced to abbreviate everything if we want to finish the painting in a day’s work.  While this approach is also valuable in certain circumstances, the importance of solid drawing cannot be expressed enough.  The practice of slowing down and choosing smaller, less complex subjects is a great way to gain a deeper understanding of nature and sharpen your observational skills.

As you can see from the photos, Inwwod Park is a wonderful location for a landscape painting workshop and we are excited to plan some more for next year!  Our last workshop, taught by Thomas Kegler was also a huge success and you can read more about that in these two blog posts, where you'll also find my rave reviews of the Indian Road Cafe - a conveniently located source of food, coffee, and cookies.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Announcing Scholarship Winners!

Congratulations to the following core student scholarship winners!

Category: Best Cast Drawing/Painting
First Place, $6,500 - Sally Cochrane

Category: Best Block-in
Second Place, $3,500 - Rebecca C. Gray

Category: Best Figure Work
First Place, $7,500 - Anthony Baus
Second Place, $2,500 - Patrick Byrnes

The winners are chosen for their extraordinary work, consistent excellence, and outstanding work ethic. The scholarships are applied to full time study the next year.

By Sally Cochrane, 1st Year Student
By Rebecca C. Gray, 1st Year Student
By Anthony Baus, 2nd Year Student
By Patrick Byrne, 2nd Year Student

Monday, June 4, 2012

April/May student work.

Andrew Bonneau

Andrew Bonneau

Anthony Baus

Anthony Baus

Brendan Johnston

Brendan Johnston

Devin Cecil-Wishing

Devin Cecil-Wishing

Katie Whipple

Katie Whipple

Liz Beard

Liz Beard

Matt Weigle

Matt Weigle

Niki Covington

Rodrigo Mateo

Rodrigo Mateo