CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

The ASCR has several programs available to the serious art student and professional artist alike. In addition to the Old Master Drawing and Painting Technical Program, the Certificate Day Program in Drawing , The Human Head: Sculpture,Drawing & Painting On Saturdays and the Saturday Landscape Class, we offer a midday Sunday Long Pose Figure Workshop and a Monday Night Long Pose Figure Workshop, as well as a variety of Summer Enrichment Programs.


CERTIFICATE DAY PROGRAM IN DRAWING

Learn to draw and paint like the greats of realistic art when you enroll at The Atelier School of Classical Realism in Oakland. Work from casts, academic drawings and live models utilizing techniques of the Old Masters and 19th Century art academies.

Both the professional and the serious amateur artist will benefit from this 2-year course in Drawing and Paiting presented in a congenial educational setting and tailored to meet your artistic needs. Fall trimester for the Certificate Day Program starts September 12th and is scheduled 9am to 4pm, 5 days per week, Monday through Friday.

The 2011-2012 program runs for a 14-week trimester to the Fall, a Winter trimester of 13 weeks and one 8-week trimester in the Spring.

Enrollment requires a portfolio review and a $250.00 reservation deposit, which will be applied to tuition.


THE HUMAN HEAD: SCULPTING, DRAWING & PAINTING ON SATURDAYS

To draw or paint the human head and do it well demands an effective knowledge of anatomy and proportion. But doing it extremely well puts any artist up there with the great masters.

This is an intensive two-year course of study. The course is presented during three trimesters, meeting every other Saturday from 9AM to 4PM with a one-hour lunch break midday. Limited class enrollment permits careful guidance in a pleasant, relaxed environment.. Each student is permitted to progress at their own pace.

Working with oil-based clay on an armature at the very beginning, a skull will be constructed, onto which will be added cartilage, tendons and muscles. Additions will include ears, eyeballs, eyelids and lips.

A structured course will follow, including copies from master drawings, working from plaster casts, doing self portraits and working from the live model. Additional independent studies are encouraged, with critiques of these available upon request.

A $250.00 reservation deposit fee will secure your enrollment in the limited size of the class and will be applied to your tuition.


SATURDAY LANDSCAPE CLASS

This is an exploration of landscape dynamics and procedures, taught by noted landscape painter Marshall Hasbrouck. The emphasis is on realistic landscape rendering and studio work using sketches, color studies, and photos by students rather than on site plein air painting. Some on site work will be done at selected Bay Area locations as weather permits.

This is an all day class that meets every other Saturday from 9 am -- 4pm, starting on September 17, 2011. The format allows later starting dates for individuals, but the course lectures will continue at the scheduled pace. The first session and many of the following sessions take place at the Atelier School Classical Realism Atelier at 4920 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland.

The course format consists of short lectures and demonstrations, with most of the time dedicated to hands-on practice with input from the instructor. Each class concludes with a critique and discussion of the day's work in a supportive spirit of learning how to paint effective images.

The course will cover such topics as composition, perspective, values and masses, color and the effects of atmosphere and changing light.

Registered participants will receive a suggested list of basic equipment and supplies for getting started. Refinements in the gear can be made later as needed.

A $250.00 registration deposit, to be applied to tuition, is required.


OLD MASTER DRAWING and PAINTING TECHNICAL PROGRAM

The program consists of the Technical Foundation Course and the Monday Evening Long Pose Figure Workshop. The on-going format allows the instructor to work with students at various stages of artistic development concurrently.

The Technical Foundation Course is held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30 for 9 hours each week.  It is an ongoing course in two parts; the Core Drawing Class and the Painting Class.  The Core Drawing Class is prerequisite to the Painting Class.

Core Drawing Class study begins with drawing exercises to develop the understanding and skills necessary to use value (tone) for realistic rendering. Visual memory comparison measurements are used.

Scheduled demonstrations explain drawing processes.  Students explore Old Master techniques for creating depth, distance, atmosphere, solid form, and convincing surface textures on a two-dimensional surface. Subjects range through cast studies, self portraits and still lifes.

The Painting Class is begun once students have mastered the drawing segment of the course or its equivalent (subject to approval).  The study of COLOR TEMPERATURE at the ASCR is one of the most thorough and helpful being taught today.  The dynamics of color as affected by pictorial lighting come alive for the student artist.  Advanced students learn the direct approaches to PLEIN AIR oil painting followed by coaching in Old Master layered glazing techniques.  Critiques are given for figure paintings done in the Monday Figure Drawing and Painting Workshop.]  Critiques are also given for landscapes done outside of classes.

First-year Painting Class students are encouraged to do cast, still life and self portrait paintings during non-class hours using monochromatic oil stain rub outs and direct opaque monochromatic oil painting techniques.  Critiques of these studies will be held during regular evening class hours. Second-year Painting Class students work on independent painting projects using advanced painting techniques with glazing.  Critiques of these studies will also be held during regular evening class hours.



LONG POSE FIGURE WORKSHOPS

Long Pose Figure Workshops are offered midday Sundays from 10AM to 1PM and Monday evenings 6:30PM to 9:30PM. This is a time for independent study and development of individual initiative. The model takes one pose for the session. These are repeated for about two months and, when desired by a majority of those participating, even longer. This permits students to study the anatomy of the model in detail. A marvelous opportunity is also presented to gain experience in the final finishing of a figure drawing or figure painting. There is no instruction during the workshops, but critiques are available during regular class hours

2011 SUMMER ENRICHMENT PROGRAM

These special focus workshops are offered between the spring and fall trimesters. They are short but intense. Subjects range from Introduction To Making Perspective Behave, New and Old Approaches to Design and Composition, Grinding Your Own Paints, Landscape Painting: Theory and Practice (includes on location field trips), Preparing Your Own Maroger Mediums, and How to Deal Successfully With Both Drapery Folds and Changeable Hair Without Going Crazy. Program schedules are announced in late Spring.

STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHS

Click on the link to the right to view ASCR studio photographs.