workshop week report: part 2: Ecorche sculpture and drawing

Students who have been taking ecorche spent the first two days of the week finishing up their sculptures with Mason Sullivan.






For the next 3 days, a large group of students studied ecorche drawing and anatomy with Andrew Ameral who came all the way from San Francisco to teach this workshop. Ameral was the director of anatomy at the Florence Academy of Art for 7 years and has a wealth of knowledge on this subject. We were so psyched to have him at GCA!

the following examples of what we did in class were done by Carla Crawford:

We had a male model for half the day and a female for the other half. On the first day we did simple block-in drawings like this.


On the second day we studied the skeleton and drew on velum laid over the drawings from the first day.


On the third day we studied the muscles and drew those on another piece of velum laid over the figure drawing.

Here is Carla's male drawing:

workshop week report: part 1: value with Tony Curanaj

For the past week students in the core program enjoyed a break from the usual routine to take part in special workshops. The first year students focused on value with Tony Curanaj.

In this workshop Tony introduced the Munsell Color System, which addresses color in three parts: hue, value, and chroma. While this system is not taught exclusively at GCA, an understanding of it can be helpful when approaching color. In this workshop, students focused on the neutral values or grayscale.



In the first few days of the workshop, students learned how to mix the neutral values and tube their own paint. First year students have been cast drawing all year so this workshop also serves as an introduction to the medium of paint and a transition from cast drawing to cast painting.


To achieve the right value that is neither too cool or warm, a lot of mixing and matching and subtle observation has to be done.


The second half of the week was spent painting small still lifes of simple block and sphere shapes.

Excalibur Foundry Sculpture Exhibition

Sculpture Atelier student Mark Porter has a figure sculpture in the upcoming juried group sculpture exhibition at Excalibur Sculpture Foundry in Brooklyn, NY. The opening reception is this Saturday, May 1 from 6-9 PM. At the reception there will also be a bronze pouring demonstration at 7PM, which sounds pretty cool. The address is 309 Starr St, Brooklyn, NY, 11237

Beardsley Gallery still life show

"Objects of Art" will be at the Beardsley Gallery in Wilton, CT from April 27 - May 29. Reception is May 8 from 4-6pm

This group show includes work by these artists from the Water Street Atelier / Grand Central Academy community: Camie Davis, Juliette Aristides, Colleen Barry, Kate Lehman, and Travis Schlaht.


Tromp L'oel, by Camie Davis, oil on panel


Fish by Travis Schlaht

Ken Salaz on Jimmy Fallon

Ken Salaz is a student in the core program at GCA, but he's also an expert magician specializing in mind reading! A few nights ago he performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Video of the show are online in two parts here (part 1) and here (part 2) Awesome job Ken!

New workshops in drapery

Drapery Workshop, Week 1: Drapery & Hair with Jiwoong Cheh
August 16-20 (5 days) • 10am - 5pm
$600 ($300 deposit)
* $1150 if you sign up for both the sculpture and drawing/painting workshops in drapery.

In the world of outdoor figurative sculpture there are not many nude figures but plenty of costumed ones! Students will learn the basic logical understanding of drapery and the sculptural treatment of hair.

Beginning students will work on one project each of drapery and hair. (The class will provide 5" tall sculpture head and drapery model.)

Intermediate and advanced students will sculpt a whole body in costume from the provided mannequin (the class will provide 16" tall wooden puppet.)

We highly recommend you sign up for both the sculpting and drawing/painting courses. Sculpting drapery is a key to understanding it well enough to draw and paint it.

Drapery Workshop, Week 2: Drapery Drawing • Camie Davis
August 23 - 27 (5 days) • 10am - 5pm
$600 ($300)
* $1150 if you sign up for both the sculpture and drawing/painting workshops in drapery!

In week two of this drapery intensive beginning students will complete one finely rendered finished drawing of a fabric study in graphite. Intermediate and advanced students are welcome to complete either a drawing or painting and/or experiment with white chalk on toned paper. Advanced students are welcome to bring in an already completed figure drawing/painting they wish to add drapery to. Along with covering the purely technical aspects of drawing and painting fabric this workshop will also include; insight into aesthetic fabric/figure composition, how to draw/paint various textures; cotton, silk, fur, how to create tension in fabric and how to approach pattern.

Self Portrait show at Ettinger Gallery

The Eleanor Ettinger Gallery in New York City has a show of self portraits up right now (the show runs from April 1 - May 2) Included in the show are GCA instructors Travis Schlaht, John Morra, and Richard Piloco. Also represented is GCA alum Hyeseung Marriage-Song.

Self Portrait in Grey Coat by Travis Schlaht, oil on linen 14" x 11"

American Painting Video Magazine

This is the trailer for Michael Klein's new American Painting Video Magazine. For $10 you can download over two hours of content that includes a still life painting demo with Travis Schlaht and an interview with Jacob Collins. This is a fairly new project but it has recieved some great reviews on facebook from people who have watched the first issue. Michael Klein and Travis Schlaht both studied with Jacob Collins at the Water Street Atelier and now teach at GCA.

Carl Dobsky at John Pence

Carl Dobsky has a solo show coming up at John Pence Gallery in San Francisco, CA from April 16 - MAY 22. Dobsky studied with Jacob Collins at the Water Street Atelier before it merged with GCA. View more of Dobsky's work here.


Carl Dobsky, Self Portrait, Oil on Linen, 18 x 16 inches

European Paintings at Bonhams

Emile Munier (French, 1840-1895)

From April 17th - 20th you can go preview the auction of European paintings at Bonhams auction house in New York. The preview will be open from 10 AM to 5 PM on the 17th, 18th, & 20th. On the 19th it's open from noon to 5. All the artwork in the auction can be seen online at the above links. Bonhams is at 580 Madison Avenue.

Uninstructed Anatomy Drawing Group

This is a study group organized by Colleen Barry that meets once or twice a month on Saturdays at GCA. In the next two sessions we will study the torso. As preparation for the session, you are encouraged to draw from the old masters and study anatomy books to familiarize yourself with the subject. We will draw from a nude model who will pose in different positions emphasizing the muscles of the torso.

The next two classes will be held Saturday April 10th 9am-12pm and Saturday April 24th 9am-12. There are a few spots available, please RSVP colleenbarry2@gmail.com
$5 if paid ahead of time. $9 at the door.

Here are Colleen's studies from the most recent session: