The Fresco School has held yet another successful workshop demonstrating their unique trademark, hands-on professional level instruction delivered with technical precision and personal passion that enables and inspires their students to create successful, true to classic buon fresco technique works of art the moment they enter the class whether the student is a professional artist, novice or an art student. .
This class was the first to take place in Baltimore, MD. Until this point students who wanted to take our classes had to come to the Los Angeles area. Due to the rapid increase in demand and invaluable efforts of K. J. Wolf a fresco artist and our East Coast Director, the school is in the process of expanding. This workshop held from August 18th to the 22nd took place in the sanctuary of a turn of the century Methodist Church in downtown Baltimore. The stained glass windows and massive stone walls created an atmosphere ideal for our students and the growth of their creativity resulting in 44 original boun frescoes.
The classes drew individuals from a variety of art and non-art related fields. Once again this class proved that you need not be a refined artist to participate. At the same time those that are more advanced never feel that their instruction is being restricted. This is the hallmark of our instruction and why students continuously return to our classes. Ilia Anossov, head instructor, has the unique ability to cultivate knowledge and skills within students from a variety of different levels of artists. His teaching style emphasizes a one on one type of instruction that allows students to advance at their own pace. Our students proceed without the fear, and they move into uncharted territory with the best fresco instructors at their side.
Mr. Anossov is just one of the instructors that made the Baltimore class such a success. The diversity of the backgrounds of the instructors contributes to the school's flexibility of instruction. Ian Hardwick specializes in plaster work and adds a certain intensity that counteracts Ilia's easy going teaching styles.
This class also included instructional help from Wolf, who took iLia Anossov's advanced fresco program in Los Angeles, she leant her expertise and helped the students to create their own great works of art. Later in the week, Mitch Nussbaum owner of Arizona-Hawaii based Coppola Bros., Decorative Italian Plasters company, and iLia Anossov's former student introduced our new Fresco Materials & Supplies Shop and helped coach the students in purchasing fresco supplies.
The Baltimore class proceeded in a manner that demanded that the students learn while they were painting an actual fresco. Lectures have their place, but we have found that it is more effective to have the students learn while they are working with the plaster and pigments. The first day was dedicated to instructions where the students learned bases of the techniques unique to fresco painting, how to prepare surfaces, and grind and mix colors. By the second day the students were painting their first fresco. You could tell that many students were a little intimidated, but quickly began to experiment with color and style.
The third day went under the tutelage of Ian Hardwick who explained to the nuances of plaster mixing and application. The last two days the students were back on the panels painting. At the end of the week each student had at least three completed frescos of their own.
The space, with its stain glass windows and high ceilings, seemed to nurture the students' growth in many unique ways. The pieces that were created by the students exceeded our expectations, as they always seem to do. Fresco in an intensely complicated form of art, yet it is amazing how, under the correct instruction an individual can learn so much within a limited span of time.
more pictures available (click here)
by Andrew Brosseit
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