The Language of Art

Service Description

The Language of Art sits at the core of our signature program. This year-round class offers students a place to begin the study of art and media fundamentals. Students will develop visual, artistic, and media-handling skills, as well as, patience, mental stamina, quality control and the critical thinking necessary to progress as an artist. Students will take their first footsteps on the path to developing exceptional artistic skills starting with unlearning bad habits and learning to see like an artist. Students are taught to identify light and shadow boundary lines, incorporate primary and secondary shadows, and to understand that edge determines form, how to measure and depict proportion and scale, and work both from photo reference and observation. Students move through a range of media including charcoal, pencil, ink, acrylic paint, and colored pencil with a strong focus on skill building and media handling. Instruction of media handling including blending, feathering and layering, working back to front and broad to narrow, defining local value and color, tonal structure and color theory. Students who have studied here before, or who are beginning with a solid foundation in art, but who are not quite ready for an advanced class will begin at our Emerging Artist level. At this level, students develop an advanced understanding of how value, color, and edge combine to create effects in space, and on objects with wide range of texture, light, and surface characteristics. Projects will address familiar topics, in a more detailed, rigorous composition and format so that skills continue to build in complexity and mastery in a logical, scaffolded manner. Projects do not repeat and become increasingly more complex and student driven over time as students gain and master skills. Students will move from a direct instruction model to a guided instructional model over time.

Cancellation Policy

For year-round classes: Students may make up one missed class every 30 days up to three per year. Make ups must be completed within 30 days of the missed class and reserved at least 24 hours in advance. Monetary refunds will not be issued for missed classes. Week-long summer sessions: May be refunded if canceled more than 7 days prior to the start of the session. Any summer sessions cancelled due to low enrollment will be offered a full refund.

Contact Details

• 4 South Orange Avenue, South Orange, NJ, USA