ART SCHOOL PORTFOLIO EXPERTS
Why is the Portfolio So Important?
You have one chance to make a first impression, and a good portfolio is often the first and only chance you have to cut through the competition and catch the attention of those who can and will make the decisions that effect your child’s future. A portfolio is far more than a showcase for your child’s talent. It tells viewers who they are, what kind of personality they have, their interests and ambitions and is often one of the principle measures teachers, administrators and recruiters use in their search to find those candidates who fit their programs best.
Drawing is Fundamental
Times have changed and drawing, having fallen out of academia’s favor for several generations, is once again being seen as one of the true measures of artistic ability. Remember too, many famous abstract painters who’s work may appear random or even “anti-drawing,” learned to draw realistically before they shifted to abstraction- Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, William de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, to name a few. Now, even in fields often considered “un-artistic”, from medicine to law and engineering, “thinking with a pencil” and being able to communicate quickly and accurately with drawing is an enormous professional advantage.
A Traditional Approach
Our traditional approach to drawing teaches a process of seeing that can guide the student in a lifelong pursuit of recognizing and understanding structure. “Seeing” is fundamental to understanding and if you cannot “see,” you cannot understand, no matter what career you choose. To this end, drawing can be divided into subsets of practice such as contour drawing, mass drawing, gestural and shape drawing. Everyday “looking” becomes “seeing” when an artist understands the concepts of edges, cross contours, and all the relationships seeing both reveals- size and proportion, negative spaces, value and color relationships- and demands for masterful, expressive drawing.
Results Oriented Training
Our one and two year programs introduce your child to the theory and practice of drawing and will prepare them to accurately record what they see either in reality or imaginatively through their mind’s eye, much as they have been taught to record their thoughts and ideas through writing. Training in color theory and an introduction to a wide variety of media will deepen your child’s understanding while opening her eyes to the incredible possibilities available to the contemporary artist.
What We Teach
We teach the elements of shape, form, value, line, color, space, and texture, which provide the foundation for the artistic principles of movement, unity, harmony, variety, balance, rhythm, emphasis, contrast, proportion, and pattern. Regardless of their prior training, anyone can learn these elements and principles of art and successfully apply them to their practice.