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!

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.

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

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

Copying at the MET

Summer Workshop Season at GCA has begun...
And so have the crazy hot temperatures in NYC! 

So...what better way to cool off, then paint in air conditioned studios or one of the most incredible museums in the world...
with our MET Copy Workshop taught by Mark Tennant.

Cool off with Rembrandt, Velazquez, Lippi and their cohorts.

There's still time to sign up!! Workshops start next week!

Click here to read more or email: gcaclasses@gmail.com

Below are some candid photo's from our first class at the MET this past Spring:

PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN

by Rembrandt

copy by Sveta Janda

PORTRAIT OF A MAN 

by Velazquez

copy by Eileen Danville

THE CALMADY CHILDREN

by Sir Thomas Lawrence

copy by Ayala Borten

GCA Lecture by Dr. Linda S. Ferber - Tuesday, May 22nd

This Tuesday, May 22nd, Dr. Linda S. Ferber will be speaking at GCA. Dr. Ferber is the Vice President and Senior Art Historian at the New York Historical Society, and she has also served as the Chair of the Department of American Art at the Brooklyn Museum. She is a leading expert in the study of the Hudson River School and has published and curated numerous books and shows on the subject, including the excellent book, The Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision. We are happy to have Dr. Ferber lecturing here, and her words will make for excellent preparation for this year's summer landscape painting.

The Course of Empire: Savage State
Thomas Cole - 1858

"Nature's Nation":

Americans and Landscape Painting, 1825 - 1876

The presentation will introduce GCA students [and lecture attendees] to the important role played by local landscape subject matter, or American scenery, in the early development of both national and cultural identity in 19th-century America. Showing iconic American landscape paintings by Cole, Church, Durand, Bierstadt and others, I will discuss how this development propelled the rise of the Hudson River School and the popularity of landscape destinations like the Catskills and the White Mountains for artists and tourists alike. These journeys into nature are still reflected today in the very existence of our state and national parks. Moreover, landscape painters' houses and studios have also been preserved as historic sites. Therefore when artists today work en plein air to sketch or paint landscape, especially at sites along the Hudson and in the Adirondack and White Mountains, they are entering a long, rich historical and cultural dialogue with both nature and national identity.
- Linda Ferber


The lecture will take place from 5 to 6 PM in the GCA cast hall at 20 W 44th St in Midtown Manhattan. 

2012 Student Exhibition

Please come to our end-of-year student exhibit!  this will be Friday, May 25th, from 5:30-7:30 PM  The work will be on view for the month of June, but because of summer class schedules, we can only have visitors between 1-2 PM and 5:30-6:30 PM Monday - Friday.  

by Brendan Johnston

by Emilie Lee

GCA Sculpture Atelier in Vanity Fair!

Abigail Tulis with her work in the sculpture studio. Photo by Jonathan Becker

 Our very own Abigail Tulis is on newstands right now in the most recent issue of Vanity Fair!  Abigail is a full time student in the GCA Sculpture Atelier.  The article, by Alex Shoumatoff, is about the history of our block - West 44th Street between 5th & 6th Avenues. 

photos of our block - W 44th St - photos by Jonathan Becker

 THE SCULPTURE ATELIER at the Grand Central Academy was developed to train a new generation of classical sculptors. The program is built on the ideas and techniques that have been central to the great tradition of sculpture that has come down to us from the ancient Athenians, the Italian Renaissance, and through to the Beaux Arts tradition of the 19th Century.

Mastery of the human figure is the goal. Emphasis on clarity of form, simplicity of action, balance and harmony, are woven through a program that includes meticulous copying of antique sculptures, rigorous study of anatomical figure structure, and extensive modeling from life.

In their years of study, our sculpture core students study cast drawing and figure drawing alongside the Water Street Atelier painting core students. The sculpture students also learn anatomy, perspective, art history, and fundamental.  For more information go to our website.

Paint at the MET this June!

Enroll in a thirteen session MET Copying class taught by Mark Tennant. The class will meet for four weeks on Tuesday-Thursday afternoons, 12:30 - 4:30, June 5 - 28.

Copy of Murillo's Beggar Boy

Workshop Description:
Rising artists must look to the great masters of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries for guidance and make themselves familiar with the works of every school in order to cultivate their tastes and form their style. Through museum copying, the student learns to look at nature from the point of view of the best art and compare their own efforts with those that have stood the test of time; to aim at the highest. The student will not only try to see how a painter did a certain thing but why. So that as they copy, they will follow the master in the working out of the problems and, consequently, make it their problem as well. One painting will be copied over a period of twelve days at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Demonstrations and lecture will cover such topics as construction, value relationships (monochrome), warm and cool colors.

To go to Mark Tennant's website, click here.

Details:
Tues/Wed/Thurs, June 5 - 28: 12:30-4:30pm
(includes a prep session at GCA on May 30, 12:30 - 4:30pm)
Tuition for thirteen sessions: $1150
To register now: email Joy at gcaclasses@gmail.com

Saturday Portrait Class May & Summer Registration Still Open

by Carla Crawford

A few spots have opened up in our very popular Saturday Portrait Drawing & Painting class that begins its next session this Saturday. 

Schedule: May 5, 12, 19, 26 from 9:30am – 4:30pm (lunch 1:30-2:30pm). $210.

Also, the deadline for signing up for our Summer Workshops has been extended through the month of May. Finalize your summer plans and focus on your art. Limited availability remains in several of our workshops. View your options here.

To sign up email: gcaclasses@gmail.com

Fall Class Registration begins in August. 

Note: Please do not call the office to register as this & last week our phone lines have been down due to construction mishaps on our block.