Studio Escalier: A Vision of "Contemporary-Classical" Instruction
By by A'Dora Phillips
Wednesday, February 23 2005
Wednesday, February 23 2005
Published on AllBusiness.com
In the small medieval town of Argenton-Château in southwestern France, Studio Escalier, an intensive studio art school founded by three American painters in 2002, has quietly begun to assert its presence. The local home-decorating boutique has begun to stock the school's art supplies, while the end-of-term summer student exhibition has become an annual event on the town's cultural calendar. The former mayor's residence in Argenton-Château is now the studio-residence of Timothy Stotz and Nicole Michelle Tully, two of Studio Escalier's founders. Its timbered, 1,100-square-foot studio space hosts a revolving contingent of 12 international art students.
From its inspiring location to its intense daily regimen and structured curriculum, Studio Escalier aims to provide its students with a focused and transformative artistic experience. Summarizing Studio Escalier's three-month residential programs, which include a daunting 360 hours of figure study, Stotz remarks, "Our programs allow more than enough time for an open-minded person to apply himself, build new eyes, make big leaps in understanding, and have a new visual experience." Although co-founded and jointly taught by Stotz, Tully, and expert draftsman Anthony Ryder, the visionary behind Studio Escalier is clearly Stotz, the school's director and the owner of a rich and varied artistic résumé.
Stotz received an M.F.A. degree in painting from the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, and a B.A. degree in fine arts from Randolph-Macon College, in Ashland, Virginia. He received additional instruction at the Ecole Albert Defois, in France, where he worked under Ted Seth Jacobs, and at the New York Academy of Art, in New York City. From 1999 to 2001, Stotz studied painting in Madrid on a Fulbright-Hays Scholarship. He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and at the Seattle Academy of Fine Art. Stotz's varied experience has come into play in the development of Studio Escalier, where he has worked to create an environment that is both challenging and supportive.
The students of Studio Escalier are introduced?one principle at a time?to the well-organized variables that constitute a realistic representation of three-dimensional nature in two-dimensional space. For six hours a day, five days a week, students work from live models under the watchful gaze of their instructors. The first half of the program is devoted exclusively to drawing, while the second half of the course is focused on painting. New concepts are typically introduced on Mondays and are reinforced in a variety of ways throughout the subsequent week. By addressing in isolation issues such as the hidden curve, blocking in a well-proportioned figure by sight, and properly gradating paint, students begin to identify areas of visual experience that they may have previously overlooked. It also allows them a chance to assess their
From its inspiring location to its intense daily regimen and structured curriculum, Studio Escalier aims to provide its students with a focused and transformative artistic experience. Summarizing Studio Escalier's three-month residential programs, which include a daunting 360 hours of figure study, Stotz remarks, "Our programs allow more than enough time for an open-minded person to apply himself, build new eyes, make big leaps in understanding, and have a new visual experience." Although co-founded and jointly taught by Stotz, Tully, and expert draftsman Anthony Ryder, the visionary behind Studio Escalier is clearly Stotz, the school's director and the owner of a rich and varied artistic résumé.
Stotz received an M.F.A. degree in painting from the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, and a B.A. degree in fine arts from Randolph-Macon College, in Ashland, Virginia. He received additional instruction at the Ecole Albert Defois, in France, where he worked under Ted Seth Jacobs, and at the New York Academy of Art, in New York City. From 1999 to 2001, Stotz studied painting in Madrid on a Fulbright-Hays Scholarship. He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and at the Seattle Academy of Fine Art. Stotz's varied experience has come into play in the development of Studio Escalier, where he has worked to create an environment that is both challenging and supportive.
The students of Studio Escalier are introduced?one principle at a time?to the well-organized variables that constitute a realistic representation of three-dimensional nature in two-dimensional space. For six hours a day, five days a week, students work from live models under the watchful gaze of their instructors. The first half of the program is devoted exclusively to drawing, while the second half of the course is focused on painting. New concepts are typically introduced on Mondays and are reinforced in a variety of ways throughout the subsequent week. By addressing in isolation issues such as the hidden curve, blocking in a well-proportioned figure by sight, and properly gradating paint, students begin to identify areas of visual experience that they may have previously overlooked. It also allows them a chance to assess their
