LECTURE: “A Proportional Approach to the Fine Arts and Architecture”

Please join us for a lecture on Monday, October 31 from 5-6 PM in the cast hall. 

 

Steven Bass will talk about proportion and the use of numbers and geometry as design tools.  This traditional practice draws it's power from an ancient metaphysical world view often associated with the philosophies of Pythagoras and Plato.  This presentation outlines such a view and attempts to relate it to the fine arts today.  Topics included are: the difference between symbolic and mathematical number, the pursuit of beauty, the manifestation of numerical "powers" including the elusive Golden Section, and what these ideas imply for the role of the artist in society.

Steven Bass is an architect and Fellow of the ICAA  He is a graduate of Pratt Institute and the Royal College of Art, in London.  He is currently in practice and teaches courses on proportion in architecture, and instructs in ICAA's Beaux Arts Atelier.


Please RSVP to grandcentralacademy@gmail.com

The Classical Ideal

 

If you missed your chance to see "The Classical Ideal" which was on view from July-September 2011, at least you can get a virtual tour with this video.  This exhibition included work from students at the Grand Central Academy and the Beaux Arts Atelier It was hosted by Gensler, the global architecture, design, planning and consulting firm, in New York.  The show was curated by ICAA Fellows Briana Miller, Steve Bass, and Andy Taylor.  GCA artists who contributed to the show were Anthony Baus, Joseph Herrmann Loomis, Katherine Whipple, Lauren Sansaricq, Niki Covington, Pierre Bombardier, Rodrigo Mateo, Sarah Bird, Will St. John, and Mason Sullivan.

New Beaux-Arts Atelier information session

Tuesday April 5th at 4:30 PM Richard Cameron will give a short talk about the new Beaux-Arts Atelier - a one year intensive program in the study of architectural design at the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America. Please follow the link read a full description of the program - which includes a term in Rome and internship placement.

Stop by the South Studio at GCA tomorrow afternoon to find out more and ask questions!

Application deadline is May 15 2011!

The original New York Penn Station before it's demolition in 1963

some of Benini's initial sketches for the Navona Fountain

students sketching outside the New York Public Library

Jeffrey Mims reports from Rome

Last year Jeffrey Mims won the Alma Schapiro Prize to spend three months at the American Academy in Rome. He has recently posted some reports from his experience on his blog with some photos. Mims' focus while in Rome is to make "studies from Roman collections of sculpture and fresco painting - with a particular focus on how these works were designed for the spaces that they decorate". Jeffrey Mims is the director of Mims studios in Southern Pines, NC and has been influential in the revival of classical art for over twenty years.



The Alma Schapiro Prize is offered by the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America every other year to advance the career of an artist recipient and to foster the continuity of knowledge of the classical tradition as a vital aspect of contemporary culture around the globe.

Guest Lecturer Mina Rieur Weiner on E. H. Blashfield

Today we enjoyed a great lecutre and slide show about Edwin Howland Blashfield (1848–1936) who rose to prominence as a muralist during the “American Renaissance,” the period between the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the United States’ entry into World War I. Blashfield’s monumental work can be viewed in courthouses, state capitols, churches, universities, museums, and other places across the United States. New scholarship highlights Blashfield’s contributions to the beauty of civic spaces and his lasting influence on public art in America.
Mina Rieur Weiner is the editor of the new book about Blashfied, and she shared with us many images and stories of Blashfield's life and work. Check out the new book!

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ICA&CA course offerings

The Institute of Clasical Architecture & Classical America has some great course offerings this year, including continuing education classes; studio-based seminars; lectures; conferences; travel; and walking tours. Check out all the options HERE. Some specific courses that may be useful to painters and illustrators are:

Introduction to Linear Perspective, taught by Patrick Connors

One All-Day Session: Saturday, October 24; 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

This course is an introduction to linear perspective, which is the intellectual basis for representational thought and spatial illusionism. The principal perspective system studied is based on Leonardo’s model aswell as that of eighteenth-century Englishman, Brook Taylor, and of nineteenth-century American, Thomas Eakins. The phenomenon of camera-conditioned thought, which includes camera obscura and photography, and its relationship to linear perspective, will also be investigated. At the end of the course students will have completed approximately four sets of plates covering such drawing exercises as one- and two-point perspective.

Basic Proportion: Geometrical Proportioning in Practice & Application taught by Richard Sammons

One All-Day Session: Saturday, November 7; 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Proportion is the most crucial, yet most misunderstood aspect of architectural design. It exists today as the last bastion of objective logic in the realm of aesthetics. Indeed, without an understanding of proportion and the closely related problem of scale, no architectural endeavor can be successful in the aesthetic sense. This course will present practical methods of geometrically describing the elements of classical architecture and how they relate to an overall architectural composition, as well as provide techniques and practice for applying proportion to design with special emphasis on the orders.

Classical Architecture 101

On Monday nights, Richard Cameron teaches a class for GCA students and teachers that introduces the fundamental principles of classical architecture. Cameron co-founded the Institute of Classical Architecture and has taught drawing and the history of architectural theory at the Institute since its foundation in 1991.



The class has been studying renaissance drawings, with a particular focus on Michelangelo. They have also been drawing the Doric order from the treatise by James gibbs, and have done some drawing at the New York Public Library (2 blocks from school). Coming up next, the class plans to spend some time studying shadows using india ink wash rendering and getting to know the great classical buildings of New York City. Some introductory design exercises will also be covered by the end of the year.



Richard Cameron is also the co-founder of Ariel, The Art of Building. Ariel specializes in the hand drawing of architecture and design, and in high-end residential and institutional projects.

Alma Schapiro prize winner Jeffrey Mims

Congratulations to painter and muralist Jeffrey Mims who just won the Alma Schapiro prize! The prize is offered by the Instituted of Classical Architecture and Classical America every other year to advance the career of an artist recipient and to foster the continuity of knowledge of the classical tradition as a vital aspect of contemporary culture around the globe.

The centerpiece of the prize is a three-month affiliated fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, the premier American overseas center for independent study and research in the fine arts and humanities. The total award will include Academy fees, travel allotment and award stipend.

Jacob Collins, founding director of the Grand Central Academy of Art, ICA&CA board member, and Schapiro Prize jury chairman, said, "Jeffrey Mims has been at the forefront of the revival of classical art for the last 20 years. He has made great contributions as an artistic leader as well as a teacher. His school, Mims Studios, plays an important role in the training of young classical artists. We are delighted and honored to be able to offer the Alma Schapiro Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome to him."

Paul Gunther, president of the ICA&CA adds, "I am grateful to Jacob Collins and his fellow jurors for the decision made, despite once again the fierce competition from exemplary classical artists at work across the country today. In particular, the choice for the 2009 Fellowship of Jeffrey Mims reminds us all of the value of a mid-career sojourn at the Academy unfolding as it will among such committed creative trailblazers of many disciplines both artistic and scholarly. I know that both Mims' own work as well as his commitment to teaching will be duly enhanced. Of the Institute's two alternating American Academy prize fellowships, Schapiro in the fine arts and Rieger-Graham in architecture, Mims is the first recipient, who can bring to bear an already well- and long-established career with the prospect of renewed achievement in its promising wake."

Nelson Shanks

Last night Nelson Shanks gave a portrait painting demonstration downstairs at the Institute of Classical Architechture & Classical America. Mr. Shanks is a well respected painter and teacher who has played a significant role in keeping realism alive over the past 40 years.

Halloween at GCA

Yesterday we had some great costumes for Halloween, and a party with our friends downstairs at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America.