I am available for studio color, painting, drawing classes; plein air landscape classes. Classes are taught in 3 week blocks: 3 hours 5 days a week. Group instruction preferred. Please contact me at jane@janestarks.com
HOW DO I TEACH?
I lead every student at any level through a series of carefully conceived steps that allow them to grow and experience success. Focusing on how as well as what students learn, my methods include numerous demonstrations and personal attention for each student. Through my extensive art library students have exposure to a wide variety of artists for example and inspiration. Critiques are arranged so that students recognize and value their progress, develop an awareness of where they need to focus learning, and, most importantly, develop a sense of their direction and potential as artists.
WHO CAN LEARN ART - WHO SHOULD LEARN ART?
VISUAL ARTS WHICH REQUIRE THE USE OF HANDS - DRAWING, PAINTING, CERAMICS, SCULPTURE - ARE A WONDERFUL WAY TO TO DEEPEN THE CONNECTION BETWEEN WHAT YOU SEE AND HOW YOU THINK AND FEEL ABOUT WHAT YOU SEE. I firmly believe that, just as almost everyone can learn to read and write, almost everyone can acquire the visual language of painting and drawing. When students (or would-be students) are disabused of the misconception that art requires talent, then they are ready to be taught. They come to accept that drawing and painting demands (as does music, dance, or writing) practice, mental focus, and the ability to handle frustration. And they have the satisfaction that results from effort and mastery. Besides - it’s good for you! A lot of research suggests that drawing and painting preserve and enhance cognitive function.
THE COURSES LISTED BELOW GIVE STUDENTS AN UNDERSTANDING OF AND PROFICIENCY IN FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS AND TECHNIQUES OF DRAWING AND PAINTING:
The Language of Color. Students learn the vocabulary of color - value, hue, saturation - and become fluent in paint-mixing, brushwork, and glazing to achieve a nuanced and balanced articulation of tone and color. They learn to apply the language of color to the depiction of light phenomena, such as shadows, reflections, halation (backlight), and transparency. The course combines painting and collage, and is taught in gouache (”gwash”) and watercolor. Gouache, an ideal learning medium, is unusually supple: it dries quickly but not permanently, and allows students to use a full range of oil as well as water-color techniques. Gouache is also a ‘fast’ medium that promotes a highly gestural and expressive approach to painting. The forgiving qualities of this medium allow students of undertake the kinds of problem solving that develops focused, critical thinking and experimentation - skills that are the foundation of originality in art.
Drawing as the Foundation of Painting. This course focuses on helping students integrate the process of drawing with that of painting. Students learn how to depict meaningful form through value and shape, rather than by line alone. They learn proportion, perspective, spatial logic through the use of sighting sticks, and how to address negative and positive elements through inductive excercises. The course will begin with geometric solids and still life, then shift to the figure. At this point a projection method is introduced that teaches how the figure can be “thought” , not just observed, providing students with a far more sensitive approach to line and volume. This course is taught in charcoal, gesso, and brush.
Analytical Painting. This course addresses composition, the establishment of meaningful form, positive and negative space, inductive processes, and the intelligent use of color. Conceptual and perceptual approaches to form and color will be distinguished. Students will be taught to focus on retinal painting, as opposed to overly rendered subject matter. There is an added emphasis on gesture in paint application, which will require the cultivation of tempo, spontaneity, and decisiveness. Subject matter will embrace abstraction as well as representation. Still lifes are composed to capture the variable light phenomena that inform the landscape, such as shadows, reflections, transparency, halation. Plein-air painting will be included, weather permitting. The course is taught in any water-based media, but gouache is preferred.