Session 1: June 21-26, 2009
(Studio Extension: June 29-July 3, 2009)

Session 2: June 28-July 3, 2009
(Studio Extension: July 6-10, 2009)

Participants in this hands-on figure painting Institute session explore contemporary directions of painting, ranging from individual studio practice to public projects. This class utilizes oil paints; the Institute provides all oil paints for participants. Participants need not be currently working in figure painting, but should be familiar with figure drawing and painting. This session gives participants the opportunity to explore contemporary art practice through focused studio time augmented by discussion with artists, critics, curators, and historians. The participants are also given open access to the studio outside of class time.

Questions? Email us at tica@saic.edu.
 


















T.S. Eliot once said, "When a new work of art is created, the entire history of art must adjust to make room for the new inclusion." The truth in this statement is obvious in the ongoing convulsion of the western model of that history over the past thirty years. Pre-existing models of Modernist thought and action have been critiqued and deconstructed since the advent of feminist theory, multicultural politics, and post-modern thought.

Today, the narrow band of Modernism has been replaced by a wide-open landscape of diverse perspectives and previously silent voices. In the visual arts, new technology has challenged historically grounded media such as painting and drawing. As painting moves forward into the new century it offers an historical depth and resonance that other media can only allude to. Subjects change, points of view evolve, but each creative medium opens a horizon which reflects its previous applications and uses. Figure painting today can comment on Renaissance humanism or Buddhist thought by simply making use of the appropriate mode of application or choice of surface. Pattern can refer to international politics, or to personal taste.

The museum education component will explore the impact on curriculum of museum collections. Independent studio time will be available to a limited number of participating teachers beyond the one-week session.