Tiago Finato: Earning credits with ARA Boston courses

One of our talented students, Tiago Finato recently got college credit for classes he took at the Academy of Realist Art, Boston.

He is currently enrolled at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth in their undergraduate degree, BFA Painting Major.

Tiago first applied and was accepted into the painting program at UMass, Darmouth. He asked the chairperson of the art department about the possibility of getting credit toward his degree for the classes he took at ARA Boston. After providing them with an ARA syllabus, curriculum description and an official ARABoston transcript and his portfolio he was granted credit toward his studio foundation courses at the U.

The process took Tiago about 6 months from beginning to end with his grades and efforts going a long way to getting these credits approved.

ARA Boston class courses have compatible hours with college level courses and a level of work that is very high.

A little more about Tiago:  Tiago moved to the US from Brazil to explore art and moved to Massachusetts in 2001. He is currently the President of the Greater Fall River Art Association and the UMass Darmouth drawing club. Tiago has received numerous commissions including the Fall River Library commission, entitled: Human Emotion at a Moment in Time, a portrait painting for the tenth anniversary of September 11, the commission of the new Mayor of Fall River, Massachusetts William A. Flanagan, which it is on permanent display at the Fall River Government Center and the official mayoral portrait of Taunton, Massachusetts Mayor Thomas Hoye.

You can check out his website here.

Tiago works on a figure drawing

Saturday Long Pose Figure Drawing Class with Emmy De Musis

This upcoming Fall semester we will be offering a few classes on Saturdays taught by Emmy De Musis. Born and bred in Boston Emmy has amassed an impressive resume of art training.  She is a graduate of Walnut Hill School for the Arts with a major in painting and holds a BFA in painting from Carnegie Mellon. She traveled to Florence, Italy in 2008 and studied drawing at the Florence Academy of Art. Upon returning to the States in 2009 she enrolled at the Academy of Realist Art, Boston to study with Director, Cindy MacMillan.  During this time she made a sojourn to France to study with Michelle Tully and Timothy Stotz at Studio Escalier for a term. Now serving as the Assistant Director at the Academy of Realist Art, Boston she is teaching figure drawing.

In 2011, She was awarded a student scholarship from the Portrait Society of America to attend their annual conference and was among ten finalists chosen to participate in the Grand Central Academy 2011 figure drawing competition.

One of the classes Emmy teaches is a long pose class. This is a popular class with students because they get to work on some of the refined drawing skills that can't be addressed in classes with shorter model poses.

Description of Emmy's Long Pose Saturday Drawing Class

Beginning in graphite, students complete a 'cartoon'. This is a preliminary drawing that establishes proportion, body type, gesture and the correct grouping of light and dark. This important phase creates a solid structure. Students then transfer the cartoon to toned paper and the drawing continues in graphite and chalk. Emmy will assist students in choosing an area of the figure to fully render. Through the articulation of subtle plane changes and correct value assignments, the students work towards a naturalistic and volumetric drawing.

Emmy will provide individual critiques, demos and lectures.

Figure Drawing Long Pose 10 weeks beginning September 14th through November 16th.

Catherine Hart took the Long Pose class last spring - here is her drawing made with graphite on Fabriano Artistico hot pressed watercolor paper

Hiroshi Furuyoshi

ARC Salon Show Winners

Do you every wonder what happens to an artist's painting after it is selected as a winner in the annual Art Renewal Center Salon show?  

Artist Hiroshi Furuyoshi's painting "Julien" won "Best in Show" in the ARC 2008 annual salon. It was subsequently sold at Christies auction house in June 2010 for $58,404 U.S.

On Thursday, September 5th another of Furuyoshi's paintings is featured at a Christies auction. Fans of this artist may want to watch the results.

Workshop Wrap Up with Hege Elisabeth Haugen

Our 1-week Figure Painting workshop with Hege Elisabeth Haugen recently wrapped up. During the workshop students worked from the model using sight-size. Students particularly enjoyed the information they received on the use of palette and color sketch, the block-in stage and the design of half-tone shapes.

Hege Elisabeth Haugen was born in Hönefoss, Norway. She was a full-time student of Odd Nerdrum in Oslo for two years in addition to spending a few summers both in Iceland and Norway studying with him. In 2003 she began her studies at The Florence Academy of Art. Her paintings are in private and public collections in Norway as well as in private collections in Denmark and Italy.

Frank's construct. Sight-size helps him get it down quickly!

Massing in the general values.

By Day 5 students were excited with the light effect they had achieved in their paintings.

Open House and Spring Term Completed Works

Our Fall Term begins September 9th. We are holding an open house that first week of classes on Wednesday September 11th from 12:00 PM until 8:00 PM so feel free to drop in for a tour or to ask any questions you may have. We hope to see you then!!

Our school is located at

112 South Street, Second and Third Floor Boston, MA 02111

(617) 426-3006

Figure Drawings are completed on the Tuesday and Thursday classes. Bargues/Casts are scheduled on Mondays and Wednesdays. We also have some great classes such as Evening Bargue Class (Wednesday evenings), Anatomy (Wednesday afternoons), Color Lab (Thursday evenings), and Long Pose Figure Drawing, and Constructs (Saturdays).

Here is a small sampling of the great work completed by students at the Academy of Realist Art Boston in the Spring 2013 Term.

Check the website for details on enrolling in any of the great classes we have to offer.

Kevin Gearns Bargue Level 4

Ginny Level 4 Bargue

Kevin Gearns Figure Drawing of Laura

Julie Beck Fortuni Master Copy

Paul Birnbaum Level 2 Bargue

Julie Beck Cast Painting 1

Close Up of James Danielson Figure Drawing

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Francis Bacon's old paintbrushes

How do you know when it is time to throw your old painting brushes in the garbage?

Francis Bacon gave the brushes he used to paint large studies of Lucian Freud to his friend and fellow artist Clive Barker in 1978. Clive eventually sold the brushes, they were used on the television program 'Four Rooms' and then sold to dealer Gordon Watson.  Now they have surfaced as part of a Christies auction. They are bundled with a signed edition of the book Francis Bacon by Lorenza Trucchi. Listed with an estimate of $30,000 the price will probably climb higher.

If you're the next Francis Bacon - never trash your old brushes. Give them to your friends. You'll be doing them a favor.

Still Life Workshop with Christina Mastrangelo

Our recent Still Life Painting workshop with Christina Mastrangelo was a great success with students accomplishing a lot during the 2 weeks of study. Working from life and starting with a "campitura" and then progressing from "dead coloring" through to "first" and "second painting".

Christina painted a Demo piece during the workshop.

These photos show ARA Boston student Mann Gurung's workshop painting as he worked through the various stages:

Drawing Stage

Transfer of drawing

Dead Coloring - block in of value masses

Some of the other student's paintings:

Workshop: Making your own paint and canvas/panels

On July 29th and 30th, the Academy of Realist Art Boston offered a workshop called Traditional Methods of Making Paint, Panels and Canvas with Leo Mancini-Hresko. Leo is exceptionally knowledgeable about about materials and the workshop was filled to the brim with information.

A little about Leo: Leo graduated from The Florence Academy of Art in 2005. He was then asked to stay on at the school, first as an instructor and subsequently director of the school’s drawing program for sculptors. Additionally, Leo taught regular courses in plein-air landscape painting and artist materials until leaving the school in 2011.

In this 2 day workshop, students were hands-on with material, supports, and supplies. While much of this information on it's own can feel daunting and overwhelming, Leo was able to break it down into more understandable chunks and was very accommodating in answering all our questions.

The same basic methods Leo showed us have stood the test of time as they have been used by many generations of master painters.

Students took part in mulling paint and were all able to take a small tube of the titanium white made in class home, and one lucky student earned a beautiful tube of Ultramarine blue! Ultramarine blue can be tricky to make because with just one pass of the muller, the paint changes so drastically. We covered terminology such as "short" and "long" and "stringy" when it comes to describin the consistency of paint and how it feels when you work with it.

Everyone also left with 2 panels they prepared, as well as a linen canvas gessoed and ready for paint.

Painting in oil can seem mysterious to new painters. It is a technical medium and it is important to understand it's properties in order to use them to their full potential. This course helped everyone understand oil paint, mediums and painting supports. Giving us better control of our materials. I highly recommend this course for everyone wanting to paint in oil.

And as always, check out all the other amazing workshops offered at the Academy of Realist Art Boston!