The Curriculum at the Georgetown Atelier is composed of three major categories of study in the following order of completion:
Each of these categories has a series of projects and milestones that build upon one another in a cumulative fashion. In order to move from one area of study into the next, students must have completed the major project milestones and possess a certain level of mastery before moving on. Mondays through Thursdays of each week during the academic trimesters are designated towards advancing along this curriculum. Students are encouraged to use Fridays as ‘free days’ or opportunities to experiment with areas of study outside their current place in the curriculum. Following is a description of each of the three categories.
The drawing portion of the curriculum forms the foundational pillars for everything that follows. Students begin by learning how to ‘block-in’ the figure and other subjects they work from. The overarching premise of the block-in is to learn to work from the broad to the specific. Like a sculptor would carve a figure out of a block of marble by making broad initial cuts, the student learns to see the ‘big picture’ first by distilling what they see to its essentials. In this way the artist can first establish the global relationships and then gradually refine their drawing so that any exquisite detail rendered in latter stages fits within the greater whole.
After becoming familiar with the ‘block-in’ process, students begin their cast drawing projects and work from extended poses from the model ranging from 4-16 session poses. At this stage students learn to ‘turn the form’ while observing the ‘global value relationships’ (‘turning the form’ refers to the gradual gradation of light as moves along the surface of an object and ‘global value relationships’ refers to the overall hierarchy of light and dark relationships in a broad sense).
There are two major cast drawing projects within the drawing portion of the curriculum. The first is executed with graphite on white paper without the rendering of background relationships. The second is the ‘master project’ executed with charcoal on toned paper with a fully rendered cast with background/environmental relationships. When working from the figure students are welcome to work with their medium of choice between graphite, charcoal or similar media.
Following are some other notable areas of study covered within the drawing category of the curriculum:
Monchromatic Painting, Warm/Cool and Limited Palette Painting
In the second major stage of the curriculum students are introduced to the world of painting. Because of the complexity of methods and materials of oil painting, students begin by working in Grisaille, or in ‘black and white’. By working monochromatically students are able to learn to apply the knowledge gained through drawing into painting without having to juggle issues of color. Students initially mix large batches of paint corresponding to a standard 9 value scale from white to black, and make their own tubes of paint.
After completing major project milestones such as the ‘master cast painting’ and master-copy, students begin to enter the realm of color by learning to work with warm/cool relationships. The heart of achieving convincing color relationships, even when working with a full palette of colors, lies within executing successful color temperature changes. By using only 3 colors initially, students learn to see in terms of color temperature relationships rather then just local color.
Students at this stage also re-visit drawing and learn how to use red, white, and black chalk to create drawings with convincing color temperature relationships. After establishing a firm grasp with warm/cool relationships students expand their range and work with the traditional Velazquez type 5 color palette of Black, Umber, Venetian Red, Yellow Ochre, and White. Students discover in this stage how the careful use of just these 5 colors can create paintings full of life and color. The relative amount of time students spend in these three areas is roughly ½ monochromatic painting, ¼ warm cool, and ¼ Limited Palette.
Following are some other notable areas of study covered within this category of the curriculum:
The final stage in the curriculum is learning to paint with a full-color palette. Using all the knowledge, practice, and principles gained though the hard work of drawing and painting with color constraints, Students embark upon the virtually limitless domain of oil painting in full-color. A large variety of paints/pigments and their corresponding properties are introduced, and students learn how to harness paints based upon their opacity and tinting strength. For example, some paints are more opaque, have relatively low tinting strength, and are best suited as ‘bulk colors’ to be added into, while others are more transparent and can be used more effectively as ‘tints’ into the ‘bulk’ paints or in subsequent glaze layers. At this stage in the curriculum students also begin working with projects of larger scale and complexity.
When a student begins to approach the end of their studies, they begin working on their final ‘Graduation Project’, which is meant to be a culmination of their studies, putting all the tools they have learned and experience to use.
When a student completes their studies, a graduation ceremony is held on their behalf to honor all their hard work and accomplishments.
Following are some other notable areas of study covered within this category of the curriculum: