What's an atelier? Well, traditionally professional practicing artists in Europe referred to their studio as an atelier. The atelier was home to a master artist and apprentice...several apprentices if the artist was successful and recognized within his or her community. Apprentices would methodically train under he master artist for years.
Ateliers differ from many of the programs you'll experience in a typical university setting in many ways. Firstly and most importantly an apprentice must be completely dedicated to their training. There are no semesters and students generally study year round. Students practice and study almost daily working the entire first year in black and white or charcoal. Students graduate from copying plates to cast drawing to live model figure drawing. Once charcoal is mastered a student may begin working in color. This can take years for some to accomplish. The beauty of the process is in the clarity of progression and emphasis on method and practice. Actual techniques passed down by generations of master artists are instilled in apprentices and assignments become more complex and challenging as the student progresses. Each student works at their own pace and only advances after mastering the current task. This guarantees that students have a stable foundation to build their work and style upon.
In the posts to follow I'll detail many of the methods and principles employed by the America's ateliers as well as valuable resources and insights for artists of all levels.
For those of you interested in exploring I highly recommend visiting the Art Renewal Center or ARC.
A list of a few current American atelier's:
Robert Liberace
Juliette Artistides
Adrian Gottlieb
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