New Year! Art Renewal Approved again!

Happy New Year!

Looking forward to another year of drawing and painting! I enjoy my atelier teaching and work, and I just love painting! I can loose track of hours when painting, I am happily lost in the work, a certain sign that this is my passion!  I often look and the clock and am surprised I have passed so much time at painting, having thought I had only begun.

My atelier has been Art Renewal center approved again and our seal of approval is below! I highly recommend visiting their website clicking HERE, and view my atelier page clicking HERE!

Below are a few picture of an oil painting this year from my atelier. I especially love (my student has not completed it yet, but I love the process) :

And here is an interesting article to read: HERE.

That's all for now, thanks for visiting! ---Sandra

We are the first and only ever atelier that takes place in a high school in the world! News, press release, painting in show

News, Press Release, Painting in Regional Show

      Hi everyone! I have been so busy, but must update! I have been busy with the "Atelier in the High School at Bradford Christian Academy," as we draw to a close our third year. We are still glowing from our status as the first ever atelier that takes place in a high school...in the world! We were told this by the Art Renewal Center this past February when they made us one of their approved ateliers. I am sure this will be a new trend in K-12 schools very soon!

   Since then, I was asked to present my paper, "Experiences and Methods in the First Atelier in the High School at Bradford Christian Academy; An Atelier program for High School." at The Regional Art Conference  TRAC2018 , about our endeavor. 

    I am very happy with the work the students are doing, and will share some photos below, that were taken for a press release that was circulated by our School, Bradford Christian Academy, today. I will also insert that press release below.

     Finally, with all this going on, I have not painted too many of my own oil paintings, but, my painting, "Arrangement with Cat and Twine" was accepted into the 21st Regional Juried Show at the Newburyport Art Association.

Stay tuned! scroll down for the press release, and photos !!  --Sandra Galda

PRESS RELEASE: 

Bradford Christian Academy Earns Distinction as the Only High School Atelier Program in the World

Haverhill, MA — On February 6, 2018, the Atelier in the High School at Bradford Christian Academy was approved as the only high school atelier program in the world by the Art Renewal Center (ARC), the leader in the revival of realism in the visual arts. The ARC is the only vetting service for realist art schools, ensuring that the teaching curricula and quality of teacher and student work meet strict standards for approval. BCA proudly holds the distinction being the only vetted atelier in a high school.

The atelier tradition, a practice stemming from Renaissance Italy, focuses on the technical aspects of drawing and painting figurative art, including perspective, accurate drawing, and values of dark and light. Atelier techniques were practiced for centuries by the European masters to perfect drawing and painting skills demonstrated in portrait work and landscapes. 

The Atelier at Bradford Christian Academy is led by faculty member and Massachusetts-based artist Sandra Galda. In addition to her undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and her master’s degree from Harvard University, Sandra completed six years post graduate study at Ingbretson Studios with master painter Paul Ingbretson. Galda will present her paper, "Experiences and Methods in the First Atelier in the High School," at The Representational Art Conference 2018 (TRAC2018), in Leeuwarden, Netherlands in May.  Founded by Michael Pearce and Michael Lynn Adams, the TRAC conference aims to provide an outlet for the discussion of new developments in 21^st Century representational art.

The Art Renewal Center (ARC), a 501(c)(3), non-profit, educational foundation. For more information about the Bradford Christian Academy’s approval by the Art Renewal Center, please visit their website at link: https://www.artrenewal.org/Atelier/Index/10172

 About:

Bradford Christian Academy

Bradford Christian Academy is an independent, co-educational, college-preparatory elementary, middle, and high school serving students from Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox faith traditions. With campuses in Bradford and Haverhill, MA, Bradford Christian Academy enrolls students from over 40 communities throughout the region as well as countries throughout the world. For more information, please visit www.bradfordchristianacademy.org.

Media Contact:                                                                                      

Matt Perusse, Director of Communications, (213) 804-0219, mattperusse@gmail.com

Finally, below is my oil painting, with a close up below it, "Arrangement with Cat and Twine," oil on canvas, 20 x22 inches, accepted into the 21st Regional Juried Show at the Newburyport Art Association. 

 Thanks for looking, tell me what you think-leave a comment! Paintings by Sandra Galda are copyrighted. Scroll down this page for more art!

January at the Atelier in the High School at Bradford Christian School

January at the

Atelier in the High School

at Bradford Christian School

Happy New Year! 

If you have been following this blog, you know that I am in my third year of teaching atelier in a private high-school. I've been sharing with the students traditional academic and Boston School training.  It has been a joy to see students employ time-tested atelier lessons and see great results in their artwork. None of the students have had any formal atelier training before they enter the class. It is amazing how effective standard atelier exercises can transform a young student's art, even from the first exercise.

Below I will share a few of this years results. 

I am also excited that our Atelier in the High School at Bradford Christian Academy has been accepted as an approved atelier school, by the Art Renewal Center!!!!!  

We are told that we have the distinction of being the first atelier ever held in a high school. 

Enjoy some of the pictures by our students! 

A copy a master work project, using a Robert Douglas Hunter painting in black and white. 

 Charcoal cast drawings.

copy a masterwork sketch

color spotting exercise

My profile picture!

https://youtu.be/zEqvyKgks4o

https://youtu.be/zEqvyKgks4o

Visit again soon! 

High School Atelier in its third year!

The high school atelier is in its third year! 

The atelier class is held all year long during regular school hours, as a class in Bradford Christian Academy,(http://bradfordchristianacademy.org/). This is an amazing school, check them out. I am so pleased to be able to teach this subject. The results are awesome! 
Check out https://www.facebook.com/SandraGaldaArt/ to see what we are up to!

We began the year again with some Bargue work.

We are just finishing some value studies, one above. In our next projects we will be leaving sight size and working more relationally, using comparative strategies. 

More later!

Some of my student's artwork---School's out for the summer!

Some of my student artwork

from my high school atelier :

 

All of these student works, except for a few by an 11th grader,  are created by 9th and 10th graders!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was very impressed with the student work and their efforts at learning to see and use the strategies of the Boston School and academy style instruction to capture the visual image. It was hard to squeeze down the excellent atelier experience I enjoyed for approx. 6 years at Ingbretson Studio with my teacher Paul Ingbretson.........but the kids did get a taste of the training.  The last shot is of me in one of the rooms.

Now that school is out, I hope to work more on some of my works in process!
--Sandra



Thanks for looking, tell me what you think-leave a comment! Paintings by Sandra Galda are copyrighted. Scroll down this page for more art!

The Value of Value Spotting

 The Value of Value Spotting

                     In my high school Atelier I devised a warm up exercise to engage the students in an exercise that seems to be driving home the value of value spotting.  It is one of many critical elements in the creation of a sound image. It is part of our craft, which when executed well, attracts a viewer to your painting from across the room.

                    Before my students begin painting their still lifes each session, they must take turns working on their timed ongoing value sketch. It is run like a game and it is fun. They are translating, from a printed full color masterwork, a value sketch based on the spotting of values the master artist used.  It is refining their recognition of a good distribution of value, and helping them to distill out of the full color image the value relationships present.  I am hoping this exercise will carry over to how they explain values in their own full color paintings when they compose and look at their still lifes, "..four times for every one time," that they put the brush to canvas!
-Sandra Galda

If interested in purchasing any of my available art on this blog, contact my email address sgalda@aol.com or use the PayPal button if included in the post. Small works are signed in full on the back of the painting. All works priced and sold without framing unless by special arrangement with buyer. Thanks for looking, tell me what you think-leave a comment! Paintings by Sandra Galda are copyrighted. Scroll down this page for more art!

Updates, teaching, magazine article

 Since the last post I have some news on my art activities! 

-In May my very first atelier student completed  cast bust drawing. This adult student stated he had never had any previous formal art training.  He came to draw a couple hours about 2-3x a month after his day job, for about 7 months.  Here is a picture of his completed charcoal cast drawing:

July found me on an almost two week trip to Italy with my husband, Pompeii, Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice.  I saw so much great art and historic points of interest.

In September I began teaching at a local private prep/high school Atelier Studies and Art and Design/Theater set class.  Below are four of the many students I am teaching at the high school.

In November my husband and I spent 18 days traveling working and sightseeing in Melbourne, Australia, and London, England. I saw so much art and points of interest my eyes were sore.  What a
wonderful year.

Finally, I must mention the Magazine article I was included in for the November issue of Northshore Magazine. They wrote an article on food and art and some local artists who have painted food in many of their paintings! 

  Its been a great year.  I hope to post more often, life has been so busy.  I am thrilled to be teaching my high school students the Boston School of painting, and will post some of their great work soon.  I am still taking in some training under Paul Ingbretson's guidance at Ingbretson Studios, he is such a great artist and teacher!
more to come,
Sandra Galda

If interested in purchasing any of my available art on this blog, contact my email address sgalda@aol.com or use the PayPal button if included in the post. Small works are signed in full on the back of the painting. All works priced and sold without framing unless by special arrangement with buyer. Thanks for looking, tell me what you think-leave a comment! Paintings by Sandra Galda are copyrighted. Scroll down this page for more art!