Are you ready to take your drawing and painting skills to the next level? Have you always wanted to draw and paint like the Old Masters but can't quit your teaching job to get full-time training? Apply for our month-long Summer Teacher Atelier today! For our inaugural year, we are accepting just 20 participants per session, into our atelier program to be held in Jersey City, NJ!

July 9 - 20, 2018: Observational Drawing Skills

Taught by Mandy Theis

This atelier intensive explores drawing and design principles.  Participants will complete a series of increasingly more difficult projects as they learn and practice complex observational skills. Projects will include working from a 19th century drawing curriculum known as the Charles Bargue Drawing Course, still lifes, and cast drawing. By increasing visual literacy through this training, participants will be able to apply new drawing skills to future projects and greatly expand their content base for their classroom practices.  Lesson plans will be provided as a resource for teachers to incorporate observational drawing skills into their curricula.

July 23 - August 3, 2018:
Oil Painting

​Taught by Mandy Theis

Explore the nuances of chroma, value, and hue through this two-week course that teaches participants how to use a full color palette to create realistic paintings. Participants will build their skills in painting through custom-tailored projects. The "Boston School" approach will be employed to teach students accurate color matching, edge work, and creating effects with paint.

All supplies will be provided.

The Art Renewal Center (ARC), a non profit educational foundation dedicated to realist art and skill-based training techniques, has just announced the winners and finalists of their 12th International ARC Salon Competition. The most prestigious realist art competition in the Americas and perhaps the world, the International ARC Salon offers over $100,000 in cash awards and international recognition through partnerships with prestigious magazines, galleries, museum exhibitions and a strong online presence. This year they have included 1,006 finalist works by 640 artists from 63 countries, representing 32% of the total works submitted. 

For the first time within the ARC Salon they have hosted an independent side-competition for realist high-school artwork (students of 14 to 19 years of age). Through the work of The Da Vinci Initiative, atelier-style schools that have young artist programs, and high school teachers with a passion for skill-based art education, the ARC Salon seeks to acknowledge and encourage the growing skills of these young artists by expanding the ARC Salon to recognize their work. These works by our talented youth did not compete in the main categories of the ARC Salon, but in a separate division specifically for young students. In this year's ARC Salon, They have recognized 21 works along with their teachers and schools for their outstanding accomplishment in the visual arts. A $2,500 scholarship has been awarded for the winning high school student's artwork that can be used at any ARC Approved® school or program. In addition, the winner will receive international recognition for their artwork, their instructor, and their school through the ARC website as well as publication in the ARC Salon catalogue. The work may also have the opportunity to travel in the live version of the exhibition, which will travel from the Salmagundi Club, New York City, to the MEAM museum in Barcelona, Spain.
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The winner of The Da Vinci Initiative Award for the Young Aspiring Artist, ARC's independent side-competition for realist high-school artwork that was first introduced this year, went to 15 year old Ray Wanda Totanes, for her painting, Perception of Self. She has studied at Artalyer Workshops and Studio, located in Quezon City, in the Philippines where she has been apprenticing under Mr. Alfred Galvez for the past two years. About the work, Ray says, "In this piece I look upon my 15 year old self without holding back any criticisms as I am aware that this girl is only just a fleeting memory of the past immortalized in an image." ARC says that they are “inspired to see this powerful self-portrait created by a 15 year old student, proving that high-school aged students are capable of learning these skill-based techniques and incorporating them into unique images with a unique voice.”


To view the results of the competition visit https://www.arcsalon.org/Salon2016/Home/Index

The Da Vinci Initiative is proud to introduce a new online Bargue Drawing course titled Charles Bargue in the 21st Century. This course takes you from start to finish in creating a drawing from a 19th century Bargue plate. Two history segments by Kara Lysadra Ross are also included. Videos for the 28 part course are being released one each week for free on YouTube via the  DVI YouTube channel.


The DVI is using Patreon, a subscription service, and the sale of the course though its website, to finance the expense of producing high-quality video courses in order to provide broader access to training for students who are eager to learn atelier skills. Your patronage ensures that all students have access to this essential knowledge. 


Patreon and purchasers through DVI will gain access to additional tips and tricks videos with additional educational footage. Patreon subscribers will also gain access to the weekly footage one day in advance of the general public, or the entire course with additional footage can be purchased in totality now through DVI by clicking here.
To see the first four videos in this course, please visit Patreon to subscribe, or come to the DVI YouTube channel for the free footage. ​

Recently, DVI ambassador Camilla Haneberg travelled to the Louisiana Art Education Association conference in  Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Camilla taught a variety of atelier drawing skills to workshop participants, including finding proportions, using an envelope, and carefully observing drawing subjects.

Camilla also introduced the Charles Bargue Drawing Course to participants, which is one of the first formal drawing programs ever created. (DVI recently released a brand new online drawing course that gives step-by-step instruction on how to learn drawing skills from Bargue Plates.)

The Da Vinci Initiative is honored to provide skill-based training for Louisiana's art teachers, and look forward to visiting many more states this fall conference season!

The Da Vinci Initiative is honored to be featured in this month's Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. Published six times per year, Fine Art Connoisseur is a widely respected platform that connects artists, historians, and other experts in the field of visual art with a broad readership.

With the end of the school year approaching, it’s a great time to start thinking about continuing education programs available for summer.  The Da Vinci Initiative strongly recommends art teachers broaden their horizons – both literally and figuratively – by considering a summer atelier program in Florence, Italy.  There is truly no better place than the birthplace of the Renaissance to hone your technical art skills, boost your experience, and bring back new inspiration to your classrooms in the fall. If you can’t resist the idea of learning to draw and paint like the masters while tracing in their footsteps in Italy, check out these DVI approved atelier programs:
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• The Russian Academy of Art: Located close to the heart of Florence, The Russian Academy offers a series of workshops conducted in English. They can help you arrange accommodation in Florence and there is a range of prices for the workshops. Courses include: Anatomy, Constructive Drawing, Watercolor, Plein-Air in Florence, Drawing Full Nude Figures, Costumed Portrait, Plein Air and Portraiture, Iconography and Others. Click here for more information and to register.

 

• Angel Academy of Art: Located in a new state of the art building, the Angel Academy of Art will give you the opportunity to study under a living master:  Michael John Angel.  This summer the Angel Academy is offering Methods of Contemporary Portrait Painters, Landscape Painting in and Around Florence, the Painting Methods of Rubens, Velasquez and Van Dyck, Painting the Human Figure, Methods of the Masters: Caravaggio, Painting from the Live Model, The Painting Practices of William Bouguereau, Copying the 19th Century French Nudes. Click here for specific dates and registration.

 

• The Florence Academy of Art: The FAA derives its curriculum from the classical realist tradition rooted in the 19th century, but also addresses contemporary environment. It is one of the premier ateliers in the world with studio locations in three countries and 25 principle instructors. Florence is the original location for the school, and its alumni list reads like a Who’s-Who  of the atelier art world. This summer they are offering several 2-4 week workshops including: Figure Drawing, The Academic Method, Painting the Figure in Oil, Portraiture Techniques and Traditions, Still Life Painting, Figurative Painting, and Landscape Painting. Click here for more information.

 

• Charles H. Cecil Studios: This atelier is located in the most historic Florentine atelier still in active use. The Chiesa di San Raffaello Archangelo was adapted as a studio complex by Lorenzo Bartolini in the early nineteenth century. The studio runs a series of short courses throughout the year, including a drawing course that is great for beginners.  There is a 2 week and 4 week drawing course as well as a 2 week and 4 week portrait painting course. Additionally, they’ve collaborated with the British Institute of Florence to offer part-time evening courses as an introduction to the sight-size method.  Click here to find out more. 

The Colorado Art Education Association is the recipient of a grant from The Da Vinci Initiative that will bring atelier-trained artist Paul Ingbretson to Colorado to work with Colorado's art teachers. This full-day workshop will include intensive training in realism drawing skills. The workshop will be held next Saturday at Sand Creek High School in Colorado Springs, CO. If you are an art teacher in Colorado and would like to register for this workshop, contact Vanessa Hayes-Quintana at sashays@mac.com.

This week, The Da Vinci Initiative collaborated with the Florence Academy of Art to provide an amazing professional development opportunity for Jersey City Public Schools art teachers.

Dozens of art teachers had the opportunity to work with world class artists Jordan Sokol and Edmond Rochat in an atelier setting. Participants learned atelier drawing methods for making carefully observed still life drawings. The  art teachers had the opportunity to observe demonstrations as well as practice their own still life drawing skills. They also acquired new lesson plans for teaching these skills in their home classrooms.

The Da Vinci Initiative would like to extend a special thank you to District Arts Supervisor for Jersey City Public Schools, Ann Marley, for working closely with The Da Vinci Initiative to provide this outstanding workshop for her entire district's art teachers.

To learn more about bringing an atelier workshop to your school district, click here.