New! Evening Still Life Class!

Tony Curanaj is teaching an 8-session, evening still life painting class in April and May.

Course Description: This class will concentrate on many of the fundamentals of good picture-making, from the technical to the conceptual. The class will have lectures & demonstration focusing on different topics as well as individual critiques while the student paints his or her own still life set-up. For those who wish to focus on the simple fundamentals of drawing and painting, there will be a set up consisting of geometric shapes and colors. Some of the principles addressed will be composition, accuracy in drawing, color and color theory, understanding form and modeling, edge control, glazing/scumbling techniques, lighting, materials and good studio practice.

Tony doing a demonstration the first week of core class, 2011.

Date: April 3 - May 24 (eight sessions)
Time: Tuesday/Thursday evenings, 6:30-9:30pm
Tuition: $420
Click here for more class details.
Click here to visit Tony's website.
To enroll in the class now, email Joy at gcaclasses@gmail.com

This class will resume in September after the summer break.

"Red Tea Basket with Books" Oil on Canvas, 11 x 10 inches

"Yorick the Jester" Oil on Panel, 16 x 14 inches

"Red" Oil on Canvas, 32 x 54 inches

"Gathered" Oil on Canvas, 12 x 10 inches

"Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator, Oil on Canvas, 19 x 14 inches

"Atomic Disintegrator! Homage to Buck Rogers" Oil on Panel, 11 x 14 inches

"Sub in Profile" Oil on Canvas, 8 x 6 inches

Tony Curanaj in Miami PULSE art fair

Tony Curanaj
Nouveau Red, 2011
Oil on canvas
18 x 36 inches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tony Curanaj is represented by the Joshua Liner Gallery at this year's PULSE Miami contemporary art fair, Dec 1-4 2011.  For all the information check out the gallery website.  Tony Curanaj studied at the Water Street Atelier and he teaches in the core program at the Grand Central Academy of Art. 

show opening tonight with Tony Curanaj paintings

GCA instructor Tony Curanaj has some paintings in a show that opens tonight at Joshua Liner Gallery in New York City. The reception is at 6 PM and the address is 548 West 28th, 3rd Floor.


Nom De Plume by Tony Curanaj, oil on canvas, 39 x 24 in.

Tony Curanaj in SCOPE Miami

Tony Curanaj has several paintings represented by Joshua Liner Gallery in this year's SCOPE Miami Art Show. This event runs from 11/30-12/5 in the Wynwood Art District in Miami, Florida. Look for booth E18 if you are there! For more information click here.


Yorick the Jester by Tony Curanaj, 16 x 14 in. Oil on panel, 2010

Star Wars: Visions

There is a new book out called Star Wars: Visions. The book includes work by several artists from the Water Street Atelier and Grand Central Academy community. The book includes work by over 100 well knows artists who were invited by George Lucas to create work inspired by the Star Wars series.

by Scott Waddell

A Good Find: Portrait of a Tusken Raider, by Tony Curanaj

Rancor, by Arantzazu Martinez

Tony Curanaj at Akus Gallery

Emit by Tony Curanaj, oil on canvas, 48" x 34"

The Akus Gallery in Willimantic, CT has a group show coming up that includes work by GCA instructor Tony Curanaj. The show, "Solemn and Sublime" runs from October 21 - December 2. There will be a panel discussion with the artists on November 3 at 3 PM followed by a reception and refreshments at 5:30.

Akus Gallery

Shafer Hall, Room 1, Lower Level
Eastern Connecticut State University

83 Windham Street
Willimantic, CT 06226

Gallery: 860-465-4659
Office: 860-465-4647

Hours:

Tuesday-Wednesday 11am - 5pm

Thursday 1pm - 7pm

Saturday-Sunday 2pm - 5pm

embarking on a new year at GCA

Here at GCA the core program has been back in session for about a week now. It's exciting to be back in the studios together with old friends and new faces. This is my third year studying at GCA and I love how the program keeps getting better as we progress. The teachers and students are always talking about and looking for ways to evolve and this year there are some new improvements that we love. We now have some two week poses (all poses were previously 4 weeks long). Mornings in the North Studio are dedicated to a new still life class with Tony Curanaj that is open to third and fourth year students. This class is great because it gives us a chance to study composition and color in depth.

For the first assignment we were given a week to finish a painting. At GCA we get used to taking at least a month on our cast drawings and figure work, so this was a much needed kick in the pants!

by Emilie Lee


by Chris Rigney


by Victoria Herrera


Connie Netherton working on her painting


Sam Worley at work


Neal Esplin


Tony Curanaj lectures about the elements of composition


he's a very active lecturer

Group Show at Joshua Liner Gallery

GCA instructor Tony Curanaj has two pieces in this group show at Joshua Liner Gallery in New York City. The opening reception is tomorrow night, saturday 8/14 from 6-9 PM

Travis Schlaht studio tour

The other day Travis Schlaht gave us a little tour of his studio and showed us what he's been working on lately. He and Tony Curanaj share an amazing space that has huge skylights. Tony couldn't be there yesterday because he's in Croatia, but I hope that we can go back another time to see his work. Here are a few photos from our visit with Travis:






I didn't take any photos of his bigger projects but here are a few little studies I couldn't resist.


I fell in love with this winter scene, it's about 14 x 11 inches.


Travis has some pretty cool still life props, including 3 or 4 taxidermy pieces.

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.

New Workshop with Tony Curanaj

August 16 - 27: still life painting with Tony Curanaj.
This Workshop will concentrate on many of the fundamentals of good picture making, from the technical to the conceptual with still life as the subject matter. The class will have daily lectures and demonstrations focusing on different topics as well as individual critiques while the student paints his or her own still life set up. Read more about the workshop and how to sign up here.


"Nine"by Tony Curanaj, oil on canvas 21x18 inches

Figure show at John Pence

Coming up at the John Pence Gallery in San Francisco is "The Human Figure" running from 2/26 - 4/10. This group show includes several former students of the Water Street Atelier (before it merged with the GCA last year) including current GCA instructors Edward Minoff, Tony Curanaj, Sam Wisneski, Jacob Collins, Nicholas Hiltner, John deMartin, and Travis Schlaht.


David by Jacob Collins. oil on canvas, 48"x48"

Tony Curanaj in Fine Art Connoisseur

"Balkan Peppermill on Book", oil on panel, 8x6 inches, by Tony Curanaj

Tony Curanaj is featured in this month's issue of Fine Art Connoisseur as one of the "Three to Watch: artists making their mark". Curanaj teaches still life painting at GCA.

Tony Curanaj at the John Pence Gallery

Tony Curanaj, Red, Oil on Canvas, 32 x 54 inches, 2008-09

GCA instructor Tony Curanaj currently has a show at the John Pence Gallery in San Francisco, California. The show will be up from September 11 to October 10. Tony teaches still life painting and figure painting in the core program on a weekly basis. He also teaches a still life painting workshop in the summers.

still life & sculpture workshop photos

Here are some photos from the workshops that are currently happening at GCA. Thank you Victoria for taking the photos!





Sculpture workshop with Philippe Faraut




Still life painting with Tony Curunaj

wrapping up workshop week

Tony Curunaj taught us some crazy stuff about value, I can't believe I never learned any of this in art school!



In the value workshop we spent the last 2 days painting these blocks and trying to match the real life values perfectly.





Graydon's color students practiced modeling these spheres in different flesh tones to help them understand color theory.

Graydon teaching Munesell


This funky color chart tracks hue and chroma in the red-yellow range. Each student in the color workshop made one and will keep adding new colors to it over time.

Will showing off an example of the kind of drawing the architectural drawing workshop was learning.