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Curriculum

The Studio Incamminati curriculum is based on the conviction that technique is the prelude for creative expression and is designed to assist students in developing the essential skills and techniques integral with humanist realism. Humanist realism concentrates on both the human form and the human soul, producing in the process art that informs, fulfills and nourishes society.

Thus Studio Incamminati’s emphasis on skill and technique goes well
beyond the faithful reproduction of our object of study, but rather unveils the human condition in its complexity, reveals the human soul, and something profound about us and the world we live in. Studio Incamminati strives to create meaningful art that will inspire generations to come.

Mastery of foundational skills positions artists to be truly creative and communicate the human experience in meaningful ways. The absence of such skills is paralyzing as it restricts one’s ability to convey the world in which we live. Thus, students at learn to draw and paint the human figure and still life, work with light and shadow, refine form and shape, and interpret and understand color. While indebted to practices of the Old Masters, the curriculum is dynamic, using the paragons of the
past to bring enlightened meaning to the present.

The curriculum consists of four successive levels, each demanding mastery of certain competencies. Each level is organized in terms of stages. Advancement through the curriculum is contingent on demonstrated mastery of the skills specific to the student’s level. Students who wish to advance present their work to Studio Incamminati’s teaching staff for review at the semester’s close. Augmenting Studio Incamminatti's teaching staff is a host of visiting art faculty as well as lecturers in art history and anatomy, all committed to maximizing student potential. Visiting faculty brings fresh perspective andare essential for rounding out the artistic experience.

Curriculum Matrix
Concept Level 1
skills to attain
Level 2
skills to attain
Level 3
skills to attain
Level 4
skills to attain
Seeing and drawing basic shapes and forms

Abstracting from nature

Gesture

Block-in

Using straight lines and angles

Accuracy of gesture and proportion

Massing lights and darks

Understanding light direction

Value fields

Seeing shapes in perspective

Stepping back to assess the big picture

Maintaining basic shapes and forms as new disciplines are introduced

Stating relative values with accuracy

Creating value systems/value relationships

Developing edges and textures

Building structure and form

Making shapes beautiful and combining shapes into poetic, musical wholes

Composing multiple elements

Marrying drawing skills to color

Maintaining a consistent level of fluid drawing that properly prioritizes the order of macro to micro

Understanding human anatomy and other natural forms

Seeing and expressing the human figure as a whole

Learning to edit down to the bare essence to create a powerful image that is not cluttered with senseless information

Further defining shapes in subsequent passes

Studying values of the figure in its environment

Relating gesture, angles, anatomical landmarks, and shapes of light and shadow

Transforming flat shapes into fully dimensional form

Seeing and expressing abstract linear movements through the figure Studying anatomy

Using resources to figure out anatomy of model

Relating the figure to the background in color

Making drawing studies to prepare for paintings

Using resources to figure out anatomy of model

Mastering the ability to abstract from nature, rather than drawing the literal line

Applying this knowledge in monochromatic paint studies

Using fluid strokes

Painting with charcoal first

Advancing to grisaille

Proficiency in paint handling

Controlling paint in thin layers

Rhythmically integrating edges

Advancing to the full tonal and value spectrum with “closed grisaille”

Using warm and cool mixtures in “closed grisaille”

Studying planes and light effects

Calibrating values while keeping each value note harmonic with the whole

Pure color studies

Seeing and relating basic color relationships under artificial light

Learning vocabulary of pigments and terms such as hue, value, intensity and temperature

Advancing to figure studies

Appreciating color relationships under different light conditions

Seeing and expressing complex color set ups

Developing color in light and shadow areas in progressively longer studies

Advancing to natural light set-ups

Exploring personal aesthetic sensibilities

Capturing the essence of the whole in a three hour color study and maintaining the order of the whole when developing a study further

Painting with color that captures the beauty of light bathing form

Keying the color temperature determined by the light source
Synthesis

Setting up and composing still life

Developing still life and figure drawings

A long pose figure drawing in charcoal

A long pose figure drawing in graphite to see relative values and to plan ahead with specific goals for stages of a long pose figure drawing

Preparing compositional sketch and basic color study to apply skills acquired up to this point to a fully realized painting

Developing paintings in stages from drawing and composition studies through grisaille to completion

Advanced figure studies incorporating all the fundamental concepts at the core of the program

Still life
Refining preceding stages by focusing on personal expression, selection of subject matter, and carefully examining why one paints the subject matter selected

Applying principles learned in still life to figure work and vice versa
Attending lectures on art history

Touring major exhibitions and collections in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC (all levels)
Determining what the goal of the painting exercise is and when it is reached

Working with mentors to begin thinking about personal professional direction

Progressing on the path to self discovery and self-reliance

Planning Level 4 schedule

Preparing for specific exhibition opportunities such as auctions and Studio Incamminati exhibitions

Choosing between painting still life or strengthening skills by classes in other levels
Independent studies Completion of assigned homework such as Bargue drawings, Old Master copies Completion of homework such as self-portrait in charcoal and grisaille, copying Old Master paintings for structure, composition, abstract value fields Completion of assigned homework, such as creating painting from figure studies

Developing creativity in concept and composition in consultation with assigned mentors

Preparing for independent work at Studio Incamminati or elsewhere

Curriculum content Copyright 2012 Studio Incamminati