Teaching Techniques

“As practice  makes  perfect,  I cannot  but  make  progress;  each  drawing  one  makes,  each  study  one paints, is a step forward.”  – Vincent van Gogh

At our academy there is a carefully designed art education curriculum, based on a continuum of concepts from old traditions and old techniques, combined and applied with modern ideas. Every effort is made to accommodate individual needs, we do our best to shape and mold the artist within every student. Using a model that has existed since the Renaissance, our teachers introduce the discipline of Western Art to educate with the classic practice of drawing. This is an empirical activity that involves seeing, interpreting, and discovering appropriate marks to reproduce an observed phenomena. It can be asserted that other art activities involve imaginative interpretation. Philosophy of esthetics, ontology, semantics, studio praxis (empirical investigation), and phenomenology are also applied as needed. Past experience shows a great deal of success exercising students brains’ right hemispheres to help with delateralizing their thinking.

“A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.” – Michelangelo

With the encouragement of art education, students not only learn how to manipulate traditional and modern tools and mediums in the art creation process, but also learn to perceive their individual works of art as representations of themselves and to openly attempt to understand the emotional representations in the work of fellow artists.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Pablo Picasso

We employ a student-centered approach; differentiating between student developments to match interests and abilities in education through choice of studies. This approach is aligned with the adaptation of teaching to individual needs and abilities, to promote independent learning and the development of creativity in each student. Creativity is the spirit of art and therefore is and will be a major component of art education. Instruction on visual literacy and creative critical thinking will also be included. Using a set of structured exercises we acquire good habits, disciplined patterns and modes of thinking and acting, leading to the development of the artistic skills and creative potential of the student. Individual identity is developed with diverse activities, working out our affective and purposive orientation toward the world, and interpersonal relations through artistic expression.