thefaacollective

Eye on the Community #2

Added 2021-03-03 16:33:57 +0000 UTC

Dear Patrons,

Thank you for your continued support!

It's thanks to your generous contribution that we are able to give ongoing visibility to the unique journeys and projects of our artists.

We hope you enjoy the second edition of our 'Eye on the Community' online magazine, designed to keep you up to date with the latest news regarding our community of students, graduates, and faculty of The Florence Academy of Art all around the world!

TOBY WRIGHT - PART I of III, PAINTING BETWEEN GIANTS. MER DE GLACE

FAA Graduate and Workshop Instructor Toby Wright has recently released a series of videos showcasing his travels and landscape painting in the high French Alps. This video follows the first day of Wright’s acclimatization test in preparation for higher climbs in the days following. Climbing and hiking up the longest glacier in France, Wright finds a place to paint to test his equipment and endurance. Following in the footsteps of artists such as E.H. Compton (1881-1960) and J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) and J.S. Sargent (1856-1925) we are able to see the incredible changes to the landscape of the alps over the past 100 years through Wright’s paintings.

Click here to watch the first episode!

“I feel I need to include the elements from all my senses, not just from vision. What I’m looking for is to bring more to the table in terms of creating a painting that conveys a sense of being in a place.”

More video adventures coming soon for the Art Watcher tier: Parts II and III of Toby’s painting expedition through the Alps!

More about Toby Wright:

Graduate of The Florence Academy of Art, Toby Wright was invited to assist teaching while continuing his studies. His positions included director of the drawing program for the sculpture department, and principal instructor in the advanced painting program. Inspired by various masters of painting and sculpture from the 17th and 19th century, Toby Wright believes in the method of working from life to capture the full depth of his subjects.

In parallel to a career in portrait painting, he has also applied his classical training to his love of nature and wildlife. To observe his subject directly from life, he has pursued his subject to various locations across the globe: The Arctic, South Africa, Mexico. Swimming with Orca and Whales in the Arctic, or the Sea Lions of the sea of Cortez, he has even pushed his boundaries and adapted to draw underwater.

His work can be found in public and private collections in Europe and America. He currently paints in his studio, in Monaco.

View more of the work of Toby Wright at http://www.tobywrightfineart.com/ https://www.florenceacademyofart.com/alumni_gallery/toby-wright/ and www.instagram.com/tobymwright

Sign up for our Live Animal Painting workshop in Florence at https://www.florenceacademyofart.com/category_workshops/florence/winter-spring-florence/

15th ARC Winners

Eirik Arnesen

Empyrean, Finished clay

200 × 180 × 50 cm

2019

Back in January we shared a few artworks from the many graduates, faculty, and students who were selected as finalists in this year’s Art Renewal Center Salon (ARC). The International ARC Salon, with its live and online exhibitions, is also the largest in terms of entries, categories and international participation. Its substantial cash awards ($130,000 in prizes) and international partnerships with prestigious magazines, galleries and museums, makes the Salon an influential and far reaching competition for contemporary realists. The winners of the salon were released, and we are happy to congratulate Eirik Arnesen on receiving first place in the Fully From Life category, and Erica Arcudi, Chanel Cha, and Richard Greathouse for being named as honorable mentions.

Eirik Arnesen, FAA graduate and Principal Instructor of the FAA Sculpture Program

Erica Arcudi, FAA graduate and Principal Instructor of the 6-Week Intensive Course at FAA

Chanel Cha, FAA graduate

Richard Greathouse, FAA graduate and former Principal Instructor and Director of the Anatomy and Écorché Program

From left to right paintings by Richard Greathouse, Erica Arcudi and Chanel Cha

Fundraising Initiative with Jana Büttner

Recent graduate and now a graduate in residence at the Florence Academy of Art Jana Büttner is asking for your support to be able to fully realize her new sculpture “Trapped”, by raising money for model and materials fees.

View Jana Kickstarter campaign: www.kickstarter.com/projects/janasculpture/trapped-6

The subject of this work is a woman trapped in an aquarium which is open at the top. In the work Jana symbolizes the internal walls that we as humans are constantly putting up around ourselves.

“This can often feel as though we’re drowning, pushing against the glass, and the limits we’ve placed on ourselves. It would be so easy to just stand up and escape, to take a deep breath but most of the time we can't see what would be the most obvious solution for our struggles.”

Donation Rewards:

8 € - Signed postcard of the artwork

20 € - Limited edition signed Art print

150 € - Plaster Fragment of the portrait

1000 € - Small version of the sculpture

With your support she has the opportunity to continue working from life on this project and cover the material cost to cast this work.

More about Jana Büttner:

Jana Büttner (b. Austria, 1997) is a German-Czech Sculptor and currently a Graduate in Residence at the Florence Academy of Art.

Jana began her studies of Fine Art as a child at the Musisches Gymnasium, Salzburg in 2008. Aged 14, she transferred to the HTL Hallein School of Practical Arts to pursue her passion for sculpting. The emphasis of the school is to teach students to hone their skills in a variety of mediums. There Jana learned to carve in marble and wood, work with metal and model in clay. She graduated from HTL Hallein School as a sculptor in 2016.

In the summer of 2015, Jana worked in the Gallery Schloss Wiespach, Hallein. There, artists from all over the world are granted studio spaces to work in for one month. Jana found herself working with prominent sculptors like Gregoz Gwiazda, Debasish Bera and Eudald de Juana Gorriz. Jana assisted de Juana Gorriz, an instructor at The Florence Academy of Art, in casting his figurative work. Working with Juana Gorriz confirmed Jana’s love of working with clay to render the figure and encouraged her to apply to The Florence Academy of Art where she has been a student since 2017 and now a graduate in residency.

View more of Jana Büttner's work at www.janabuettner.com

2020 AME Bale Traveling Scholarship and Art Prize

Advanced Painting student Troy Argyros and Rachel Pinel, a recent graduate from Winter 2021, were selected as finalists in the prestigious AME Bale Scholarship and Art Prize which is awarded biennially to an emerging Australian artist who has demonstrated talent and achievement in traditional styles. There are two other awards for Oil/Acrylic and “Works on Paper”.

Click here to view the Finalists and Winners!

From left to right paintings by Troy Argyros and Rachel Pinel

'Why do doubts arise in your hearts?' - Vatican Stamp

Vitaliy Shtanko, FAA graduate and Principal Instructor at the academy has had one of his paintings chosen by the Vatican Post Office to be reproduced as the official stamp for this Easter!

The Easter stamp of the Vatican that reproduces the canvas by Vitaliy Shtanko preserved in the church of Figline Valdarno.

“In this painting entitled 'Why do doubts arise in your hearts?' ", goes on "I represent the body of Jesus who after the resurrection, appearing in front of his disciples, shows them the stigmata of the cross and pronounces the words of the title. A question that I too, then twenty-five years old, asked myself in the course of the spiritual research of that period. In the image Jesus is found in a narrow door which symbolizes the entry into the Kingdom of God 'I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. ' At the foot I placed an intact vase, a symbol of an intact body. A hand touches the edge of the door as a demonstration of his physical presence. The other hand stretches out in front of the observers, a Jesus who offers his hand of salvation. The dark door represents the exit from death to the light, with a white drapery symbolizing its divinity. The figure of Jesus is approximately 182 cm tall, placed straight in front of the spectators. In order to recreate the scene similar to that of the New Testament, once exhibited in front of the public".

Click here to read the full interview by Danilo Bogoni

View more of Vitaliy Sthanko's work at https://www.instagram.com/vitaliyshtankoart/?hl=it

And https://www.florenceacademyofart.com/alumni_gallery/vitaliy-shtanko/

Alumni in the Media

Fine Art Connoisseur released an article showcasing the Hagan Fine Art Exhibition featuring FAA Founder and Director Daniel Graves, Daniela Astone, Director of the Intermediate Program, and principal instructors Tanvi Pathare, Maureen Hyde and Vitaliy Shtanko, “On Realism.” - Click here to read the article

FAA graduate Onnalin Lojanakosin was profiled in Tatler Thailand “Onnalin Lojanakosin On Privacy and Paint” https://www.thailandtatler.com/society/of-privacy-and-paint

Tom Richards, Assistant Director of the FAA was featured in "En Plein Air: The latter-day Constables that everyone’s talking about” in Tatler. https://www.tatler.com/gallery/contemporary-artists-to-know

Tom Richards was also interviewed in a podcast “Frame and Sequence” episode 22. In this podcast Tom talks about “what drew him to painting and fine art as well as The Florence Academy of Art’s approach to teaching drawing and painting, the importance of keeping a sketchbook, and the painters that inspire him. Also touched on are the parallels of painting and photography and how to hone one’s approach to seeing and much more.” https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/frame-sequence/ep-22-tom-richards-FTMgcEhuaNK/

Recent graduate Dr Gindi was profiled in Unravel online magazine in article “Of infinity and timelessness” https://unravel.ink/of-infinity-and-timelessness/

Our Recent Graduates Exhibition, which is still available to view online here https://www.florenceacademyofart.com/recent-graduates-painters-and-sculptors-of-2018-2019/, was featured in Fine Art Connoisseur’s Painting Today newsletter.