TOM BRENNER Graduate of Yale University and the art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He has been a fine artist as well as a specialist in graphic design, including animation, illustration and package design. Has taught 10 years at Silvermine School of Art where he currently conducts Pastel and Figurative Drawing and Painting courses. He teaches Drawing, Color Theory and Computer Graphics courses at Gibbs College in Norwalk, and courses in Design and Art Education at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport.

RICHARD BYRNES – BFA Notre Dame, MFA Columbia U. Exhibited painting, sculpture, prints extensively. Taught Jr. High School 8 _ years on Long Island. A publisher of audio-visual materials, he has continued to teach for 30 years via film-strips, slides and videos. As president of Double Diamond Corp, he has produced over 100 videos for the classroom.

To see his work go to richardabyrnes-artist.moonfruit.com

Classes are on

Fridays

JOHN CONROY – A resident of Rye Brook, NY, specializes in pastel paintings and limited print reproductions, focusing on land and seascapes along the East Coast. He has studied at the Art Students League, The School of Visual Arts in New York City, and with nationally known portrait and pastel painters including Robert Brackman, John Howard Sanden, Daniel Green and Andrew Lattimore. An award winning artist, he exhibits extensively in juried shows in Westchester, Con-
necticut, the Cape and elsewhere in New England, teaches in Mamaroneck High School’s continuing education program, is a Signature Member of the Connecticut Pastel Society and is an active member of the Art Society of Old Greenwich.

Classes are on

Fridays

CAROL DIXON – BA Vassar College PBK, MA Columbia University, art courses at Pratt Institute and the Brooklyn Museum. Recently retired as chair of the Greenwich Academy History Department. Taught courses in Asian and African Civilizations, Advanced Placement Art History, economics, architecture, studio art. Has been on the art faculty of the Stamford Museum. Her works have won prizes locally and nationally, and are in many corporate and private collections.

"In teaching the Collage/Mixed Media Course, I offer students historic and current examples of collages, assemblages and box art. I show a few of my own works as well and discuss current exhibitions that feature collages. I talk about the special effects that can be expressed through collage such as juxtaposition, trompe l’oeil, and transformation. Attention is given to technique -- how to use effectively both basic art elements such as color, texture, line and composition, and a variety of materials and techniques, such as applying adhesives and other media. Most important is my attention to each individual student's expression, style, and aims. I encourage experimentation, emphasize originality, offer positive constructive criticism and help students find their own direction and assess progress toward it. The collegial atmosphere of the class enables students to share ideas about their work in an open way."

Classes are on

Tuesdays

Photo by Greg Raymond

ERNEST GARTHWAITE – BA degree Loras College. MA degree Notre
Dame U. Postgraduate work and additional study U of Wisconsin at Madison; St. Johns U, NY; Art Students League, Woodstock NY. Forty-two years teaching. Professor emeritus at York College, City U of NY, Jamaica NY. Fifty one-man shows. In over 100 public collections.

MARIAH GRAHAM– An illustrator for over 30 years, whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Daily News, Harpers Queen (London) and Vogue, Ms. Graham has also worked for cosmetics companies including Revlon, L’Oreal and Estée Lauder, and advertising agencies such as Ogilvy & Mathers Worldwide, Dentsu Advertising, Saatchi & Saatchi and Grey Advertising. She has designed and illustrated fashion billboards for China, and was commissioned by the NY Daily News to do a four-page spread giving a 1980’s look to characters such as Cruella De Ville and Snow White (with Disney’s permission). Ms. Graham also designed the clothing for the 1980’s JAM Cartoons.

WILLIAM GRANT – Studied at the School of Practical Art, Boston and after 4 years in the Navy went on to receive a BS in art education at Massachusetts College of Art, then as assistantship at Ohio U. where he earned his MFA in painting and sculpture. He also pursued a sixth year level attending the University of Bridgeport. Retired in 1992 from a 31-year career teaching art, art history, photography and printmaking at Greenwich High School, and since then has been active in both the Greenwich Art Society and the Art Society of Old Greenwich, receiving many awards in local shows.

SHAUNA HOLIMAN - Bachelors in Music, University of Colorado at Boulder, graduate studies in Opera, Boston Conservatory of Music, MBA Columbia University. Works in the Fine Arts, Performing Arts and Literature. Although she studied drawing under Betty Edwards, in the Fine Arts she is largely self taught and set about teaching herself color, painting, composition and other skills in a pragmatic and empirical way based on her extensive study of music. Her work is noted for its use of color. She is the President of the Greenwich Art Society.

Classes are on

Thursdays

ELAINE HUYER - BA MacMurray College, Jacksonville, IL; MA Washington University, St. Louis, MO; University of the Americas, Mexico, D.F. Taught: St. Louis School System; Cathedral School, Havana, Cuba. Exhibited: St. Louis Art Museum; Wadsworth Atheneum; Audubon Artists; Museum of Art, Science and Industry, Bridgeport; New England Annual; Silvermine Guild; Gallery 700, Milwaukee; Pindar Gallery, NYC.

RICHELLE HODZA IVARSSON - graduated from SUNY, Purchase College in 2007 with a BA in art history and a minor in painting and drawing.  From 1996 to 2000, she studied life drawing and painting at the Art Students’ League of NY (ASL) and studied portrait painting with Daniel E. Greene, N.A.   For two years in the early 1990s,  Richelle was a matriculant in the BFA program in interior design at Parsons. Awards for her work were bestowed upon her by Norwalk Community College, the Art Students’ League, and a variety of local arts organizations.  Her work is represented in the private collections of patrons and other artists up and down the East Coast.

To see her work go to www.richellehodzaivarsson.com

HAZEL JARVIS - Born in Bristol, England. BA in History and Theory of Art from Sussex University, England. further education has included private studies with noted watercolorist Carol Bolt in New York and 5 years' study of traditional Japanese painting techniques with fourth generation master painter Shoko Ohta in Tokyo, Japan. Member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.

"This class offers students a broad introduction to the art of Botanical Illustration.  It explains the conventions used and covers different approaches to botanical subject matter.  I try to give my students an understanding of light and shade, positive and negative space, composition and use of color,. concepts that are useful for all artistic adventures.  We paint directly from nature, with the unintended result that the class room frequently looks like the most glorious flower shop.  I give a fairly structured class, beginning with a demonstration and discussion of how to approach the plant. (Look carefully and always count the number of petals)  Then warm-up pencil sketches and finally drawing and then painting on watercolor paper.  I encourage students to develop their own styles and to keep sketch books as a record of their progress and interest in the natural world."

Classes are on

Tuesdays and Thursdays

DENNIS LYALL - Native of Iowa and graduate of the U. of Kansas. Has had a 37-year career as a professional artist and illustrator for many of America’s most successful publishers and advertisers. Well known for his designs of 34 US postage stamps, his work is in several private collections and those of the US Air Force, Coast Guard and Northeast Utilities. He has been a portrait artist and Director of the Society of Illustrators in NYC.

"For the artist, there is nothing so full of possibilities as a white sheet of paper or blank canvas. The flip side of that, of course, is that there is nothing as intimidating as that same blank surface.

I’ve spent my adult life creating pictures to sell. I’ve had some success learning the language of visual communication, though I know full well that I’ve only scratched the surface of that marvelous field of study.

“Realistic” painting has rules and principles: perspective, color theory, and composition, to name just a few. Can the artist make successful drawings or paintings and not know how those rules work? It isn’t very likely. Can most students learn those rules and learn how to apply them to their art? Yes they can.

I try to help my students SEE. I do everything I can to make the student sessions feel spontaneous. I don’t burden students with the message “THIS is how it’s done”.
All students participating work at a pace best suited to them; the goal is to give them something that can proudly be put on the wall at home. Former students have been kind enough to note that these sessions have changed the way they look at the world…not a bad start to the rest of one’s life."

FRED MASON - BFA University of Utah; School of Visual Arts; Art Students’ League; New York University; Brooklyn Museum of Fine Arts. Taught drawing at New Design Centre, Danbury, CT and at Kimball Art Center’s Summer Art Institute, Park City, Utah, 1996-1997. On Advisory Board of College of Fine Arts, University of Utah.

"As a portrait artist I prefer teaching intermediate to advanced students in the art of drawing and painting the figure and portrait. I feel that my job is to:

(1) help the students to see better.
(2) increase their ability to translate their vision from the live model to the
sketch pad or canvas.
(3) nurture each individual's creative thinking and skills to express his or her own ideas.

The class environment is high energy and stimulating, and offers the opportunity to draw and paint the best professional models working in our area. The students learn a lot from each other, and I learn a lot from my students.

In my own personal work, I continue to travel and paint commissions from Boston and New York to Salt Lake and Los Angeles. The portraits include corporate executives, education leaders and others, as well as their wives, children, dogs and horses."

Classes are on

Wednesdays

ROBERT MASTERSON – An award-winning writer, editor and teacher. Author of Artificial Rats & Electric Cats (Camber Press, 2008) and Trial by Water (Dog Running Wild Press, 1982). Masterson’s creative work has appeared in numerous newspapers, magazines, journals, and anthologies. Masterson has worked as a professor of English at Concordia College in Bronxville, New York, and at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and as a journalist for regional newspapers in CT and NY. Masterson holds both a BA and an MA in English Literature from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque; an MFA from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado. He also earned an academic certificate from Shaanxi Normal University, Xian, Shaanxi Province, the People’s Republic of China.

Classes are on

Tuesdays

KATHIE MILLIGAN- Skidmore College BS in Studio Art; art courses and workshops in London and the United States; Yale University private seminar taught by Robert Reed.  Landscape and studio artist working in watercolor, oil, charcoal, pen & ink.  Commercial and freelance artist, designer, illustrator for 8 years. Candidate for MFA in painting at New York Studio School in Manhattan.

Classes are on

Tuesdays and Saturdays

DOUGLAS MORE -Sculpture in clay/plasticine. BA Harvard College;

LLB Columbia University. Sculpture training at SUNY/Purchase and

Silvermine School of Arts.

"My work concentrates on representational interpretation of the human form, unclothed in my classes.  I aim for animation of posture and attitude, and grace and precision of line.  My teaching is based on the conviction that the key to rendering three-dimensional subjects in mono-tonal clay is learning to see forms and shapes “in the round” and in relation to each other and intervening spaces.  I avoid touching students’ work unless asked to, as I believe they should resolve difficulties on their own when possible.  I also believe that a congenial and friendly class atmosphere, such as prevails in my classes, is conducive to learning, and to its enjoyment."

Classes are on

Fridays

MARY NEWCOMB – BA University of Washington; Parsons School of Design; Art Students League, NationalAcademy of Design; School of Realist Art, SUNY Purchase and workshops with Wolf Kahn. Recipient of first prize at Faber Birren’s 1995 National Color Award Show for her creative and original use of color, entry was a monotype portrait. Teacher of monotype printing at Greenwich Continuing Education. Also interest in abstract painting and wire sculpture. Newcomb’s work has been shown in numerous galleries and is in many private and corporate collections.

Classes are on

Mondays

ANNA PATALANO – MFA in Painting and Drawing, Yale University School of Art; BFA in Painting, Tyler School of Art/Temple University; Summer Residency, Skowhegan ME with 18 years of teaching experience. As Associate Professor Fine Arts at the Univ. of Texas at El Paso, taught painting, composition and techniques, color theory, drawing, art appreciation; developed and wrote curricula for fine arts majors from a multi-cultural community, created an honors art program; developed scholarship program in conjunction with Corpus Christi State U. fine arts program. Commissioned portraits in private collections nationwide. Vice-President of the Greenwich Art Society Studio School.

"Teaching, for me, involves communicating ideas to the student. With regard to visual art, that means communicating ideas about visual perception and describing the art materials and techniques that can be used to express the interpretation of visual perception. It's about teaching the student how to coordinate the eye, hand, and mind in creating an image. This is a complex process that needs to be simplified in order for the student to "get it." Part of my job as a teacher is to help the student break down the process and understand how it works as a whole.
 
Teaching fine art requires that the teacher allow the student to develop his or her own unique vision. It's a delicate balancing act that combines the analysis of visual perception and the use of materials and techniques WITH the student's own personal view, both in visual perception and how the materials are handled. Making art is, to a large extent, about individuality of thought and spirit and this is what I try to bring out in the student while teaching the fundamentals of perception and how to translate that through the use of painting materials.
I create an environment in which the individual student feels comfortable expressing their own ideas. How I do that is simply through respect of the individual and being positive about their unique ideas. I do not try to impose my own way of seeing or doing things on to the student but rather strive to support their own visions.
 
What interests me about art, specifically visual art, is that how we "see" the world often reflects how we think and feel about the world, ourselves, life in general.....all at the same time.  The vitality of the creative process that is expressed through making visual art speaks to many levels of thought and emotion. It is a wonderfully interesting proposition to me  -- how a single process can encompass thinking, tactility, hope, wonder, emotion, vision, and faith continues to inspire my curiosity and captures my imagination."

Classes are on

Tuesdays and Wednesdays

HOLLY MEEKER ROM – MFA American University. Exchange student Rhode Island School of Design. BA Mills College. Water Media award winner. Has taught watercolor since 1989. Docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Elected member of Catharine L. Wolfe Art Club.

"I have taught watercolor over the years to adults.  I have found my students vary in ability, but they are united by a desire to open up a part of themselves that they have always wondered about-that is expressing their artistic side. I handle this with care as I love art very much and I want them to experience it in themselves.  We learn watercolor technique, and how to compose from a still life set-up.  I teach about mixing color from primaries to get secondaries and tertiaries, tints and shades. I teach drawing skills.  I have extensive background in art history, as well as familiarity with artists of today, and I like to present visual examples of these to my students.  I am a coach, helping to lead them toward creativity within themselves.

I am personally interested in art that emphasizes color and light.  I admire the great artists of the past such as Bonnard, Sorolla, Sargent, Modigliani and the artists of more recent times such as Wyeth, Romare Bearden, Nel Blaine, and Fairfield Porter. There are so many I love, it's hard to choose. My own strengths in art are in drawing the figure, watercolor sketches, landscape and collage."

I am a member of a group website called www.paintingsdirect.com  and another called www.clwac.org.  In both cases you look me up by name:  Holly Meeker Rom

PETER RUBINO – 35 years teaching; National Academy School of Fine Art, Brooklyn Museum Art School NYC, Scottsdale Artist’s School AZ, Armory Art Center FL, Silvermine Guild of Art CT. Author of The Portrait in Clay. Commissions include “Mother of All Life” Ben Gurion U. Israel, “Angel” monument for Disney Corp., Boy Scouts of America, Sheraton Hotel, Caribbean Cruise Line, American Tobacco Co. and others. Exhibits extensively in U.S.

"When teaching I focus on fundamentals, "The Nuts and Bolts" of modeling the figure in clay. I show students how to use tools to achieve rich flowing forms and dramatic surface textures. My unique, step by step, easy to follow method of developing sculpture in three stages, builds confidence and enables students to create sculptures with individual style and expression. I enjoy working with beginners and intermediate level students and find that introducing students to a new sculptural language and being part of their artistic discovery and growth is enormously rewarding.

I always demonstrate lessons in class before students begin work. It's important to begin thinking in the round so observing the model from all angels is essential. I encourage students to work and have fun during the learning process, after all, in my class there are no mistakes only adjustments!

As for my own artistic direction, I love working in clay and continuously explore new ways to create figures, portraits, reliefs and abstractions. I'm busy with exhibitions, commissions and workshop presentations through out the year."

Click here to see a video clip of Peter Rubino at work

Classes are on

Wednesdays

MICHELLE RUDOLPH – Widely published illustrator of fashion and life-style and a member of the Society of Illustrators, NYC. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, WWD, Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor and other fashion presentations. She holds a degree in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology and a Master’s in Art Education, and teaches art at Eastern and Central Middle Schools in Greenwich.

Classes are on

Thursdays

ENZO RUSSO - Born in Florence, Italy. Graduate of School of Fine Arts, University of Florence with its traditional formal training. Further training with Italian modern master Giorgio de Chirico. Received the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship (The Harkness House Foundation). Taught in Florence; at Finch College, NYC; University of Colorado; Rosewood Arts Centre, Kettering, Ohio

Classes are on

Mondays and Sundays

KAREN SPRING – Born in England, a former student of and currently assistant to Enzo Russo. Received her art education at private schools and with individual teachers in Germany, England, Northern Ireland and the United States.

Classes are on

Mondays

DMITRI WRIGHT - continues the American Impressionist tradition of the Cos Cob Art Colony of the late 1800s, founder and master artist of the Renaissance Workshop in Greenwich, artist in residence for the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, and Director of Education and Master of Fine and Applied at the former Connecticut Institute of Art, also in Greenwich. His works are in more than 200 private, corporate and public collections.

"I teach Impressionism as a synthesis of contemporary adaptations derived from classical fine art methods. My students learn how to use Impressionism’s creative matrix of its prevailing technology, asymmetrical composition, optical focus, and color theory with their own artistic insight.

I’ve developed the “Canons of Impressionism” a series of ten principles to help my students mature in their own personal style of Impressionism. Each one learns how to use their own temperament to establish a personalized art form built on Impressionist methodology of quick, spontaneous brushstrokes, loaded with pure light vibrant pigments, which work in contrast with radiant darker colors to produce the Impressionistic effect.

This program is taught in a workshop format allowing each student to work at their own pace through their choice of materials: pastel, watercolor, acrylic, and oils.
Each student is taught the science and poetry of Impressionism according to their learning and working style.

I’m honored to be the Artist-in-Residence at the Bush-Holley Historic Site, the town’s only National Historic Landmark to continue the time honored Impressionist Painting tradition John Henry Twachtman began at the Cos Cob Art Colony in 1892."

Classes are on

Thursdays

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