ARA at ISG

Currently on view at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a marvelous show of 39 master drawings gathered in a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition: Donatello, Michelangelo, Cellini: Sculptors' Drawings from Renaissance Italy.

Coinciding with the exhibit, ARA Boston figure instructor Emanuela De Musis will be working from the live model in the museum's Tapestry Room during the Third Thursdays event, Draw Closer. Choosing a pose from one of the exhibit's pieces, Giambologna's Fountain of Oceanus, she will demo how we at ARA Boston construct a figure drawing.

In preparation for the event, Emmy created a "cartoon" in graphite which she transferred to toned paper and continued in carbon pencil, the same procedure students follow in our figure drawing program. 

This Thursday, November 20th from 6:00-8:30

For more info, please go to: http://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/events/5895

Cartoon Detail

Drawing Detail

2013 Summer Workshops

The Self Portrait: Artist as Model

10 days, August 5th - 16th        10:00-5:00, one hour lunch break         

Cost: $1150.00

Instructor: Emanuela De Musis

During his life, Rembrandt completed at least seventy self portraits. These drawings, etchings and oil paintings created a diary of his life and served as tools of experimentation and promotion.

Using history as inspiration, this ten day workshop will open with a presentation of various self portraits and a discussion of their motivations and themes. This will aid the student in choosing a composition for their autobiography. More than other genres, the self portrait demands that the artist reflect not only on the self, but how to present this self to others.

Moving into the studio, students will begin a cartoon in graphite. This is a preliminary sketch that establishes proportion, gesture and the correct grouping of light and dark. This important phase creates a solid structure. Using a light table, the students will transfer the cartoon to toned paper and the drawing will continue in graphite and chalk where rendering techniques accurately capture delicacy of form and quality of flesh. Through the articulation of subtle plane changes and correct value assignments, the students will move towards a naturalistic and volumetric drawing.

The instructor will provide individual critiques, demos and lectures. 

To learn more, go to http://www.academyofrealistartboston.com

To view Emanuela's work, go to emanuelademusis.blogspot.com