Greetings! I would like to continue sharing with you my experiences with The Art Students League of New York’s (ASL) E-telier online classes.
It was back in 2022 that I started this series of articles about online classes (E-telier). And, I took a break that lasted much longer than intended. At that time, (2022), I had been taking classes through ASL ‘s E-telier for roughly two years. To recap, here are what posts 1 and 2 cover:
- Part I:
- Michael Burban: Elements of Figure Drawing – Anatomy for Artists
- Karen O’Neil: Beginning Still Life Painting
- Part II:
- Marcelo Daldoce: The Figure In Watercolor
- Yuka Imata: Portrait Drawing
- Eric March: Fundamentals of Drawing
- Part III:
- John Varriano: Portrait Drawing
- Peter Bonner: Abstract Painting
- Ronnie Landfield: Drawing, Painting, Color, Design.
- Note: Click on Part I and Part II to link to the previous articles.
You might notice by the titles of the online classes, that I jumped around a bit. And, that is what is so wonderful about ASL; you sign up for classes on a monthly basis. As such, I enjoyed selecting classes based on curiosity as well as skills I sought to develop.
John Varriano.
Which brings me to May of 2022 and John Varriano’s class. I was interested in continuing to develop my portrait drawing skills and I selected for John Varriano’s class. You might ask (just as I asked myself), why not Yuka Imata’s class again? Ms. Imata is an excellent instructor and I found her class challenging in a wonderful way; I liked the class.
However, at the time, Mr. Varriano’s class fit my schedule better.
The result? I thoroughly enjoyed John’s class. Much like Yuka’s class, I was challenged and yet I found myself learning a tremendous amount about drawing the human face. By the end of the first month of class, May 2022, I was ready to sign up for another month.
But, as I recall, John was not teaching online for the summer. So, what to do?
Peter Bonner.
Well, abstraction was calling me and I responded by signing up for Peter Bonner’s class titled “Abstract Painting”. This was June of 2022. Much to my delight, I liked the format of Peter’s class. That is, he starts the class out with a slide show of artwork that we (the class members) discuss. After an hour or so, we switch to critiques of student work.
What made the slide shows special was that Peter tended to show artwork from an exhibition or gallery show that he had seen the week before. And, other times we looked at works from one of the greats in history, like Titian, Tiepelo, Whistler, Bonnard, Matisse, to name just a few.
I was enjoying the class and, then, Peter took a vacation in August of 2022. Who to sample next?
Ronnie Landfield.
Mr. Landfield’s class was organized somewhat like Peter Bonner’s class. I enjoyed the class and my fellow students. Though I took Mr. Landfield’s class for only one month, I would recommend the class. I was impressed with his experience and knowledge, in particular.
Incidentally, what I said about Ronnie Landfield could apply to all the instructor’s I studied with. Their knowledge, experience, passion, and love of art was inspiring.
Lessons Learned.
What I learned from all of the online classes was to study the Masters and work on form. Also, for the most part, the style of teaching is not “step by step”. Instead, we work, show our work, receive a critique, and then, work some more.
That said, in the portrait and perspective online classes, there was some instruction to get us started in the right direction.
One of the most valuable learning opportunities is listening to critiques of your fellow student’s work. We all see differently. I looked forward to hearing what our instructor and fellow classmates said about each of our work. It is an eye opening and valuable experience.
I would say, regardless of where we were when we joined these classes, our work evolved.
Next?
I returned to the League’s online classes in December of 2022, enrolling in Peter Bonner’s class again. And, it seems that I found my instructor, class and community. Inspired, I continued to take Peter’s class on and off until May, 2024. My intentions is to share more about Peter Bonner’s class in a future posting.
Thank you!