I've been putting together the new bulletin for the Great Falls School of Art, where I teach ... and figured that this is the perfect opportunity to give you the first peek at this January's offerings. I'll be teaching Monday and Tuesday day classes. See dates and times below. Also, I'm teaching a "Mastering the Business of Art" workshop on January 6 and 7. This is offered once a year. It earned rave reviews last year... and I know firsthand that it has had a major influence on those who attended the class. Registration begins immediately for all classes. I didn't list the teen and children's classes offered ... see the Great Falls Foundation for the Arts
web site to download the entire bulletin. More info on my classes and a registration form and information can be found on my web site:
www.jillbanks.com -- just updated!
The Great Falls School of Art is located at 1144 Walker Road, Suite D, Great Falls, VA 22066. Registration is going on now. I put a registration form and info on my web site here.
ADULT CLASSES
NEW!
Portrait and Figure Painting in Oils – Jill Banks
This course covers the basic elements of painting the portrait and figure: composition, mood, gesture, form, structure and features. Emphasis is placed on creating sound and compelling paintings as well as achieving a likeness. Beginning students will work in
grisaille – concentrating on accurate values and form. Intermediate and more advanced students will learn how to paint beautiful skin tones through color studies and to place the figure in space. A supply list is posted on Jill’s web site. For information on the instructor, see Jill’s blog at
http://jillbanks.blogspot.com or
www.jillbanks.com. Model fees are extra and are to be paid directly to the instructor the first day of class. Nude and clothed models. A supply list will be posted on Jill’s
web site.
Mondays, Jan. 11-Mar. 8, 10am-2pm $400 plus model fee (model fee to be paid directly to the instructor)
Still Life Painting in Oils– Jill Banks
Still life provides a great tool to hone skills. Students of all levels welcome. Beginners will learn the fundamentals including laying in lights/darks (grisaille), color, materials and form. More advanced students will apply skills to increasingly complex subject matter, refine color and produce finished paintings, learn to see as artists, simplify forms into abstract shapes and how to construct compositions. Information on the instructor can be found at
www.jillbanks.com and on her blog at
http://jillbanks.blogspot.com. A supply list is posted on Jill’s
web site.
Tuesdays, Jan. 12-Mar. 9, 11:00am-3:00pm
$400 plus materials fee (materials fee paid directly to instructor)
Traditional Oil Painting Techniques – All levels - Adrienne Kralick
This class is tailored to help each students at their own level whether beginner or advanced, with an emphasis on the concepts and painting techniques that can be learned from great paintings throughout history. Beginning students will work on still life or photos chosen by the instructor to fit their skill level while advanced students work on paintings of their choosing. Everyone benefits from the instructions given to others in the group. Information on the instructor can be found at
www.adrienneartist.com.
Fridays, Jan. 8 – Mar. 19, 9:30am-12:30pm $300 (no class on Jan. 29 or Feb. 12)
Sundays, Jan, 10 – Mar. 21, 1:00pm-4:00pm $300 (no class on Jan. 31 or Feb. 14)
The Lives and Techniques of the World’s Most Famous Artists – Adrienne Kralick
A combination of hands-on painting and art history. Take home a different masterpiece from each five week session. Sessions will alternate between weekday and weekends to accommodate more students. If you can’t do one session, you can wait for the next. Session 1: Luminous Landscapes Like Monet – This class starts with a trip to a local museum to study Monet paintings up close; analyzing brushstroke, canvas, priming and colors used by this master of impressionism. Then, students will create a painting of their own home, garden or special scene with the luminous light and airy feeling of an 1870s Monet. During this course, students will learn about the artist and his life while completing his/her own masterpiece using Monet’s exact colors, canvas and techniques. Instructor will provide similar colors and canvas used by the artist. (Look for upcoming series: Vibrant Portraits Like Van Gogh and Stroke and Style of Mary Cassatt.)
Saturdays, 9:00pm-12:00pm, 5 weeks
Museum Trip: January 9; Painting Sessions: Jan. 23, Jan. 30, Feb. 6, Feb. 13.
$200 plus supply fee; supply fee paid directly to the instructor.
Figure Drawing, The Long Pose – Michela Mansuino
Drawing from the live nude model, this class will be structured around the long pose for three consecutive weeks at a time, allowing students to focus on learning anatomy and produce detailed, finished drawings. Materials and techniques to be used are charcoal, red and white chalk and pen and ink on paper. Supply list will be posted.
Tuesdays, Jan. 12-Mar. 9, 6:00pm-9:00pm
$300 plus model fees
Drawing/Painting from the Plaster Cast – Michela Mansuino
In the French academies of the not-so-distant past, students were encouraged to paint from plaster casts that were replicas of sculptures. The instruction was designed for students to build confidence in the handling of oil paint. We will recreate the lesson. Each student will work from an individually set up and lighted white plaster cast of a part of the human figure. We will focus on edges, proportion and value using just three colors on an oil painting ground. The student will stay with the same cast for 9 weeks and will be expected to produce a finished, highly polished study which can then be used as a measure of success. Supply list will be posted.
Drawing Class: Wednesdays, Jan. 13-Mar. 10, 10am-2pm $300
Painting Class: Wednesdays, Jan. 13-Mar. 10, 3:00pm-6:00pm $300
Jewelry – Made in Metal I – JJ Singh
Discover the limitless possibilities of working with metal clay. Made in Metal I will introduce the low firing formulation of PMC3 (Precious Metal Clay) and explore its properties. Learn to cut, form, texture, paste, set stones, refine, fire and polish you fine silver designs into beautiful jewelry. Projects may include earrings, bracelet, pendants and a ring. Metal clay is a clay-like medium used to make jewelry, beads and small sculpture. It consists of very small particles of precious metals (such as silver, gold or platinum) mixed with an organic binder and water. Metal clay can be shaped just like any soft clay, by hand or using moulds. After drying, it can be fired in a variety of ways including in a kiln, with a handheld gas torch or on a gas stove. The binder burns away, leaving the pure, sintered metal. Six sessions.
Mondays, Jan. 25-Mar. 1, 10am-1pm, Maximum class size 8
$280 plus material fee $115 ($35 for personal tool kit which can be reused and $80 for PMC3 – 50g pack); materials fee paid directly to instructor.
Jewelry – Made in Metal II – JJ Singh
Prerequisite: Made in Metal I. Made in Metal II will continue to explore the properties of metal clay through the manipulation of paper clay, syringe clay and the original PMC+ formulation. Projects in this course will be more complex and intricate than the Level I course and will focus on the unique properties of PMC+.
Thursdays, Jan. 28-Mar. 4, 10am-1pm, Maximum class size 8. Six sessions.
$280 plus materials fee to be determined; materials fee paid directly to instructor.
WORKSHOPS
Great Workshop: Offered just once a year!
Mastering the Business of Art – Jill Banks
Creating a successful art career requires more than just creating appealing art. This two-day workshop covers the fundamentals of planning, establishing and running a career as a professional artist. Topics include goal setting, studio setup, purchasing, pricing your work, exhibiting, selling, applying for grants, taxes, setting up merchant accounts, marketing, add-on products and branding, promotions, publicity, approaching galleries, establishing name recognition, handling commissions, inventory control and more. The instructor started taking classes in 2003 – and in a little over six years has successfully built a rewarding art career through sales, commissions, recognition, awards, a grant, gallery representation and teaching. The business of art is challenging and rewarding – and conquering it lets us do more of what we love to do! A workbook is included. Information on the instructor can be found at:
www.jillbanks.com and on her blog at
http://jillbanks.blogspot.com. This popular workshop is held once a year. Don’t miss it.
Wednesday and Thursday, January 6 and 7, 5pm-8pm
$95 per person + $10 booklet fee (booklet fee payable directly to instructor)
Oil Color Mixing Workshop – Michela Mansuino
This workshop will be structured in four parts. Let’s spend the morning laying out the permanent palette in a professional way and making two-color combinations. I’ll pass out a template that you can use to mix up the combinations and that you will have as future reference pages. Some mixtures will become your favorites and some you will come back to time after time, as solutions for certain passages. We will then turn a few of the local colors into the four value ranges necessary to model the form from light to shadow. We will practice making the “pools” of value and saturation ranges and “walking” the brush to get those lovely halftones that describe the natural world around us. A supply list will be emailed upon registration.
Saturday, January 16, 10:00am-2:00pm $50
INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION
Jill Banks 703-403-7435
jillbanks1@aol.com www.jillbanks.com and
http://jillbanks.blogspot.com
Adrienne Kralick 571-437-5060
ajkralick@aol.com www.adrienneartist.com
Michela Mansuino 571-263-7696
michelamansuino@yahoo.com
Deana Fernandez 703-798-9890
bromley_deana@hotmail.com
JJ Singh 703-759-7068
jj@jjsinghjewelry.com www.jjsinghjewelry.com
Sign UP!!! See the
registration form on my web site for more information. See also
www.greatfallsfoundationforarts.org to download the entire course bulletin.
Web:
www.jillbanks.com
Blog:
jillbanks.blogspot.com
Email:
jillbanks1@aol.com
Phone: 703.403.7435
On Thursday, I visited the Corcoran's "Sargent and the Sea" exhibit with friends from the Art League. I got there a bit early (they open at 10am) and up the stairs comes Linda Lawler (another artist friend) with her student on an field trip. Lucky coincidence. Then, Linda Wharton (an artist friend who went with me to many workshops in Philadelphia, Easton, Florence (Italy) and Venice (Italy)) arrived. Linda' s the one who invited me there. We met up with Lena and Diane, fellow students from Rob Liberace's class. Once in the gallery, a woman who had come and visited my studio with the Great Falls Newcomers group said hello. She was there with the McLean Newcomers group. Later I'm sketching outside of the exhibit and in walks fellow studiomate, Heidi Mraz. Next in was Diane Falconer (former studiomate) and Joy Jacobsen (still life student). Funny day that definitely reminded me what great friends I've made through my art pursuits.
