Costs vs benefits of ateliers
 

I am trying to weigh the time and money spent in an atelier versus the outcome. Basically, I was wondering if anyone knows the tuition for any of the schools in Minneapolis. We're considering moving there. Since I'm currently in the 'starving artist' part of my life, I need to know if I can afford to go. I would assume its money well spent, but I would like to hear some feedback on this. If you or any artist you know has attended a full-time school, would you say the improvement was quite noticeable? Is it difficult to join since they judge on your portfolio (is there a LOT of competition or is it more of a formality)?

Susan,

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Another viewpoint ...

Last year I corresponded briefly with D. Jeffery Mims who is building an Atelier in Southern Pines, NC. If I remember correctly, the part-time fee for one Thursday night per week, open studio on Saturdays, and assignments for when you're not there was $250 per month. Considering who's teaching, that's probably the average part-time cost for most Ateliers that have such a program. I can't imagine Frank Covino or Virgil Elliot charging more than that, maybe they do, I dunno.

Concerning cost benefit: I also wrote a guy who spent a few months at Atelier Mims (not sure of the name) very early in the program and he raved about it. They started with basic drawing methods and eventually worked up to sight-sizing and cast drawing and eventually to painting. He had just begun monochromatic studies (black and white only) in gauche which would eventually lead to a single color being added, then another, then so on. He said no one moved on the the next phase without nailing the current one and he was quite confident that anyone finishing up after four or five years (part-time) would leave with at least the technical skills (the craft) to do just about anything in art. Of course, imagination and style is another matter :D.

I'd love to go to an Atelier part-time but there's not one within driving distance. And since none of the acomplished classical painters in my area will even return an email, it looks like it's books, videos, and web forums for me. We'll see if that's enough.

Minh "Teacherless" Thong

Yes, I should have made the point that there are part-time options, not just at "mainstream" studios but at some ateliers. Peter Bougie has a small operation and really can't afford to have a lot of part-timers occupying studio space, but I believe The Atelier (in Minneapolis, the successor to Atelier Lack) has part-time opportunities, as does the Minnesota River School of Fine Art. In retrospect, I do wonder if that wouldn't have been as efficient and valuable an experience, though I do think the discipline of being physically at the studio for many hours each day, with nowhere else to go and no distractions, was just what I ("easily distracted") needed. The risk was that I probably would otherwise have continued to see myself as a hobbyist, and I wanted more.

You also asked about admission standards. I can't speak to anything but my own experience. I had very few drawings and paintings to show when I interviewed, though I certainly had more than a lot of applicants show up with. They didn't demonstrate that I was a good artist, but that I was teachable, that I had ability and that, by virtue of just having generated some work on my own, I was reasonably serious about a long-term course of study and determined to excel. Certainly the process isn't a "formality". An atelier's reputation rests in part on the quality of work done by its students (as exhibited annually at a student show), and there's simply nothing in it for an instructor to take on the unqualified simply to help pay the rent. It'll come back to haunt the place.

Lastly, there is no single "atelier experience." Procedures and emphases vary from studio to studio and from year to year at the same studio.

Thanks for replying! I'm not sure that I can foot a $5000 per year bill, but I think it would be worth it if I could. I'll have to check around for the different options.

Susan

No question that it's a ton of dough, if you go with the whole enchilada. Like college with no electives, just one multi-year class. That kind of money would obviously put you in possession of one of the most complete instructional video and print libraries imaginable, and pay for quite a few workshops around the country. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. Had my circumstances been different, that's quite likely the way I'd have gone.

Susan, I also yearn to study in a disciplined, academic manner, but because of other responsibilities, it might or might not be in my future.

There are many ways to find a mentor or a teacher. Check around your area for local universities, where you can register for classes either non-credit or through a continuing education program. Check for local art leagues and art organizations. If portraits are your focus, go here and here and check out the artists geographically. Contact those close to you. I contacted Allan Banks, and it turns out he is coming to my town to teach a 3-day portrait workshop in December. We all have these opportunities, it's a matter of seeking them out. Even a basic drawing class will always be useful; read about sight-sizing on this forum, read all the art books you can get your hands, all of these things will help you learn, but the most important thing to do when you take a class or workshop is this:

Empty your mind of all that you know so you really listen to your instructor.

For some of us, this is not difficult to do ;), and it will give you the greatest possible storage space for all the information you're exposed to. Later is the time to edit and choose what is relevant to your work.

Mari, I cannot possibly underscore how salient this statment is to me. I cannot begin to tell you how many workshops I have attended, where the students argue with treasured advice, excuse their many reasons for not wanting to do the work, or who have some odd agenda that fails to include learning. This may be a bit off track, but here are the two main things:

1. Don't sign up for a workshop with someone who doesn't paint better than you.

2. Now that you are in the workshop, listen and try what you are taught. You might not decide it is something that you will stay with, but give it a try. The other students are there to listen to the instructor, not to you. If they were, they'd have signed up for your workshop instead.