Get inspired this spring with Gage Academy of Art!
By Joanne Levy, Director of Integrated Marketing & Community Engagement at Gage Academy of Art
In art, spring begins with Botticelli’s Primavera, the large and mysterious tempera on panel painted circa 1482 possibly to celebrate the wedding of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici.
For all of us who were wondering when spring would truly begin in the Pacific Northwest, this year spring began on March 20 and, for the first time in nearly 40 years, the spring equinox occurred on the same day as March’s full moon. Spring has never been more exciting to welcome in Seattle!
April has arrived, and with it, the Gage Spring Art Auction & Gala, which takes place April 12. It is one of the biggest art fundraisers in Seattle, and the funds raised provide access to one of the region’s highest level of art instruction for all ages, abilities and economic means.
The #GageGala is also particularly special for the unprecedented lineup of artwork featured in the live and silent auctions. Max Ginsburg has donated Tserling in Studio, oil on board. At 87, Ginsburg is one of the most prominent realist painters living in the U.S. today. For nearly 50 years, Ginsburg’s paintings have explored, with empathetic gaze, the human experience, captured the beauty of everyday life, and offered passionate commentary on class, gender and race. Marlow, by Gage’s very own Classical Atelier director Juliette Aristides, will also be featured in the live auction. Marlow is fresh and contemporary, with the conversation it establishes between tradition and present-day. Juliette, renowned artist, atelier master and best-selling author, also shares her knowledge of art in an accessible, inspiring, hands-on instructional sketchbook coming out this month. “Beginning Drawing Atelier” offers a comprehensive and contemporary twist on traditional art instruction practices. Centered on the belief that learning to draw is the best way to understand art, this book shows that artists are not only born but made.
Dale Zinkowski will also be featured, highlighting his Patrick Study. Zinkowski reveals his scrupulous attention for the details, giving us the recount of real encounter with his model, rather than an idealized version of it. Zinkowski teaches at the Grand Central Atelier in New York City and was just recently a visiting instructor at Gage, teaching the workshop “Tonal Portrait Drawing.”
Spring is all about looking forward, but let’s look back a moment. March 8 was International Women’s Day. Art museums were asking to name five women artists, and it’s surprising how many people can’t do it! Carol Hendricks of Gage Academy of Art wrote a blog post on “25 Women Artists to Know,” focusing on the 16th through early 20th century. Check out her blog at ArtHistoryBlogger.blogspot.com/#!/2018/03/25-women-artists-to-know.html
If you are feeling inspired by all of this artist talk, good! The Spring Quarter at Gage Academy of Art officially starts April 8 and you can take classes in drawing, painting, sculpting, printmaking and more!
Check out these seven-week classes: Postcards From Afar, Watercolor with Willow Heath; Plein Air to Studio Landscape Painting with our new instructor Kristin Frost; Figure Drawing for Illustration with Gage new instructor, illustrator Kai Carpenter; Portraits in Watercolor with Hamid Zavareei.
This spring Gage also continues to grow its offering of printmaking classes and workshops: Printmaking Techniques: Monotype with Klara Glosova, a 10-week class; and the workshop Printmaking Methods: Collagraph, Monotype & Mixed Media with Sophie Loubere.
Spring has officially arrived! I can feel it, now you just have to celebrate it and capture it in living color with your art!
For additional information, visit GageAcademy.org, Facebook.com/GageAcademy, email info@gageacademy.org or call 206.323.4243.