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There were times when Van Gogh and Monet would have been without canvas and paints had it not been for the generosity of Julien “Pere” Tanguy, the Montmarte art store proprietor turned benefactor, who often accepted their paintings in exchange for supplies. Much to the dismay of Madame Tanguy, this fatherly man was also known to advance supplies to young artists who had no means of repayment. With so many of his customers paying in art, he became known as an eccentric collector and art dealer, displaying paintings in his shop windows. Artists began meeting at the shop, exchanging ideas and eventually creating new styles and the Impressionist techniques that enrich society today.

The modern day equivalent of Tanguy’s art shop for the Italian art scene is Zecchi Colori Art Supply store, located in the center of Florence, the birthplace of the15th century Italian Renaissance. Sitting across the cobblestone street with a front-door view of the Duomo, Zecchi’s supplies artists world wide with hard to find paints and traditional materials. With an ancient fresco built into its façade, the shop also serves as an iconic leader in restoration techniques. Dedicated to the application techniques derived from masters who used the materials centuries ago, Zecchi’s fine materials bring life to restoration efforts all over Florence. And similar to the generous traditions of Montmarte’s Tanguy, Zecchi’s occasionally becomes patron subsidizer, helping to create opportunities for new businesses and spread knowledge of old techniques far outside of mother Italy.

Believing that the resurrection and proliferation of fresco art to be his true mission in life, iLia Anossov established The Fresco School in 1997. He says, “the complex information bank and technological achievements of our age tempt and often force us to take a ‘short cut’ in visual arts education.” Consequently, although fresco is the most widely practiced art technique of all the ages since the beginning of human history, this endangered art form is not generally taught in mainstream universities or art schools and is often referred to as a lost or dying art.

The Fresco School is designed to be accessible for anyone, both from beginners and children to professional artists. The program has attracted art educators and interested non-professionals from around the globe. The only year round school of it’s kind in the world, The Fresco School focuses the curriculum on an array of classes of the buon (true) fresco techniques of classic artists such as Michelangelo, Rafael and Diego Rivera. The Fresco School’s workshops and classes range from introductory to advanced, to private tutorials, fresco restoration and mural painting seminars as well as the unique opportunity to learn fresco plaster directly from Ian Hardwick.

iLia Anossov and his team of 3 assistants went to Diegueno Country School recently in San Diego to bring a full day of learning and practical experience of the most ancient of arts to 24 7th grade students. Studying the Italian Renaissance, the teachers decided to give their class a taste of actual experience of what it might have been like to be an artist in those times and to work with the materials and tools of the masters like Michelangelo and Raphael.

Beginning at the start of the school day, iLia started with a brief history of fresco, explaining that the first frescos are the cave paintings of primitive man. Not knowing that they were creating something that would last for centuries, man picked up colored stones and rocks and used them to draw on the wet limestone cave walls. Some intricate and highly detailed figures of animals and people, depicting stories of weather, hunting and special events of life at the time have lasted for millennia, still as true to color and form as they were when they were created.

Ilia explained that very different from the methods and materials of the artists of today, fresco does not use canvas and paint. Rather, it uses a mix of sand and lime putty – the original plaster, and crushed, powdered colored stones and minerals as the pigments. He also explained that these rocks and minerals need to be able to withstand the acidity of the limestone. The limestone has a bleach-like action which has the ability to lighten the color to the point of invisibility if you are not careful and use low quality or synthetic pigments. When the lime plaster dries, the calcification traps the mineral in the newly formed limestone and your image becomes literally “written in stone”, giving us the source of that cliché we hear so often in our language.

FrescoSchool.org
Our curriculum is focused on the traditional buon (true) fresco technique. Fresco School offers a full spectrum of fresco workshops and classes from introductory level lessons to advanced fresco programs and private fresco tutoring. Our curriculum also includes supplemental fresco restoration and mural painting seminars.

Now you can schedule your private fresco workshop by requesting convenient for you date throughout the calendar year. And you can do it right on the website using our new calendar feature. You can configure your own fresco program, length and complexity and book the time to attend. The costs are more then accessible and do fit virtually any budget.

The site also features free and simple registration form that provides you with the opportunity to request classes and elements that you desire or can not find. Like demonstrations and specialty, training, assisted workstation rentals, plastering support, etc.

Upcoming, non-private Workshops:

Although the artist portfolio review is required to enroll in this private program, we do not discriminate and set harsh requirements that needed to be met by a potential student. The portfolio review is more for developing the individual (personal) structure of the workshop rather then a review of a professional or exhibition history of the student. This workshop has been attended by established artists that were offered fresco commissions by their patrons, university professors researching a possibility of adding fresco programs to their school's curriculum as well as mid-carrier artists or art students interested in more refined art education then is offered by mainstream art schools. This workshop takes place in Los Angeles at The Fresco School.

"Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone" is a phrase from the "Conversation with God" books. As an oil painter of 24 years experience, I am comfortable using a layered oil painting technique that I developed over the years. My recent fresco class with Ilia and Ian took me out of my comfort zone in oils and thrust me into the uncomfortable realm of a new medium.

Church fresco concealed beneath layer of plaster
(ANSA) - Venice, October 10 - Art restorers have uncovered a painting by Tiepolo that has been hidden for more than a century inside a Venice church .

The fresco called Faith was discovered in the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena beneath a layer of plaster on a semicircular panel or lunette....

from Ansa.it full article here:
Hidden
Tiepolo found in Venice

By Sylvia Hunt

On July 18-19 of 2005 as part of Fresco School’s outreach program, Children’s Fresco workshop took place in Los Angeles. Workshop was conducted by the founder and instructor of the Fresco School, iLia Anossov and me, and what a joy this was, so here is how this adventure unfolded . . .

The kids, approximately 22 of them, ages ranging from 5 to 12 yrs, were from the Summer Camp of Bryan Hawkins Kenpo Karate School, and showed up early Monday all very excited about the painting adventure, although not really quite sure what a fresco was. . .

Day 1: Drawing

They gathered in the fresco studio and Ilia began the day with a short overview of the meaning of ‘fresco’ and displayed an exhibit made by his son, Phillipe, which showed the different steps in making a fresco.

We had them choose from a selection of drawings of different Karate symbols and the children, all happy with their choice, traced them on tracing paper. We had them decide what two colors they wanted to use; one for background, one for Karate symbol, and we wrote these on each drawing for the next day.

SPECIAL FRESCO SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR FALL 2005 LOS ANGELES, CA

Due to many factors there will be a few changes (including the pricing) for our Fresco Workshops.

Cost of the workshop (materials included) - $450 (special discounts for groups). This introductory fresco program is targeted mainly to Los Angeles, however we are looking into possibilities of including other locations.

Fresco School
is proud to announce it's new 10 week long fresco painting program in Los Angeles!

The program starts with two independent sessions:

Summer Session starts June 23rd September the 3rd.

Summer/Fall Session starts July 14 till October 1st

Only 4 students are accepted for each session.

Each session begins with 5 day intensive buon fresco workshop and continues with weekly classes, fresco painting and fresco plastering practice sessions.
Students will be provided with all necessary tools and materials for scheduled classes as well as an equipped fresco workstation is assigned to each student at our studio in Playa Vista (Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles) for the duration of the program (10 weeks) for independent and instructor assisted fresco practice.

You will learn and practice:

New dates for FrescoSchool's Los Angeles 5 day Professional Fresco Workshop have been announced - May 26th - 30th! This workshop takes place in Fresco School's new Playa Vista Studio in Los Angeles that iLia Anossov, school's founder and head instructor runs in association with Nathan Zakheim - a reknown fresco restorer and conservator.
to enroll please follow this link (click this line)

The new studio is not "new" to fresco and Fresco School - Nathan has completed 2 year long restoration of a 65 feet long fresco by Ramos Martinez which it was regularly visited by iLia and his students for Nathan's seminar on fresco restoration and conservation.

iLia and Nathan decided to join forces and after Nathans restoration project was finished the studio became Fresco School's homebase offering long term classes and "fresco workstations" and our popular "5 day Professional Fresco Workshop" (for upcoming May 26-30 class click here).

Karen Bakke travelled from Fargo, ND to take our Fresco Workshop this March, here is her review of the class:

New chapters have been added to Fresco-Techniques.com Website

Studio Setup.

Mostly some extra suff that you will need to have and ways to keep plaster and plaster dust away from the rest of the studio. Also you will need a few shelves for storing fresco colors and pigments - that old box housing a pile of paint tubes, just wont do.

Ideally you will have a few plastic shelving units (available in most home/office stores) with drawers size about 10" wide 3" deep and 14" long for your dry pigments. A separate heavy duty shelf with table for your plastering and about 6'X 6' section of the wall prepared with scratch and arriccio plaster coats for practice.

more at Fresco Studio Setup

Fresco Cartoon.

Fresco Cartoon is the most important step in creation of Fresco - it is your "blueprint" for all of the future work. The layout of giornatas, values, shadows, composition - all those and other elements are developed during this step.
"Cartoon" - full scale drawing of the future fresco. Cartoons are drawn on regular paper with pencil, graphite, charcoal, sepia chalk, etc., etc. The purpose of a cartoon is a thorough study and final rendition of the composition, light, shadow, details of the future fresco, it is a preparatory drawing taken to the next level. Correctly done cartoon is a "stand along" artwork. Although optional in other painting mediums, Cartoon is essential when paintng in Fresco not only as the main guideline for transferring the design onto freshly laid (fresco) plaster, but also as the main tool and method of understanding and orcestrating the steps for painting of the corresponding fresco.

more at Fresco Cartoon

Truefresco.org is proud to announce a new dimension to its ever growing web database of fresco knowledge - Fresco-Techniques.com. The website is a work in progress publishing the Internet version of iLia Anossov’s upcoming book on Fresco Painting Techniques. This website is another effort of iLia Anossov and the Fresco School’s team dedicated to foster the rebirth of fresco throughout the world, while adding another dimension to our online information. This site is intended to provide you with detailed guides for creating and recognizing frescos, whether it be Buon (True) Fresco, Secco Fresco or Faux Fresco. The website will give you the knowledge and on-hand tutorials to complete a wall fresco, fresco panel or decorative fresco tile.

The Fresco School is proud to announce a five day fresco workshop running from January 13-17. For this workshop, iLia Anossov and Ian Hardwick have joined forces with renowned fresco concervator Nathan Zakheim. A combination of such talent is extraordinary and is something that should not be missed.

The Fresco School has perfected a style in which all who are interested can learn. The head instructor at the school, iLia Anossov, understands that people need to be introduced to a complicated medium such as fresco in a form that they know and understand. He begins by allowing each student to work with images they chose, in a style they are comfortable with.

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.

We are excited to announce that TrueFresco.Org and Nationwide Fresco School have joined the National Public Radio community of donors! Trough NPR & PRI auctions held through out United States participants will be able to bid on Fresco Materials & Supplies, Fresco School Tuition Vouchers, Limited Edition Fresco Posters, with even more to come! Remember, 100% of the proceeds from NPR & PRI auctions are used to fund Public Radio Programming and Initiatives.

Many of you listen to WYPR every day. Now, here's a chance to see WYPR up close and personal through the Second Annual Online Auction! The first auction, held last year, was huge success. It helped WYPR to raise the crucial operating funds needed to pay for the programming you've come to rely on.

Tune in to NPR wherever you are and whenever you can, listen to your home radio tuner, car stereo, portable radio and join the supporters of NPR by bidding on Auction Items or simply become a member.

by Sylvia Hunt, fresco artist

To the sounds of classical music, I sat down last Sunday, and I poured out my dry pigment of Verdaccio into a little pile, onto my glass top table, making sure as Wolf said, that everything was kept very clean and pure. I made a small well in the center of the pigment, and poured a small amount of distilled water into this center. There were no chemicals. Just the essence of the pure earth pigment, the water, and me. And so I began.
I started with Verdaccio, because to me, it is the ‘mother’ of all the paints and most importantly will be what I use for my underpainting. Verdaccio is a dark green, brown earth substance. I am mixing a limited amount of pigments for my palette; ochres, sienna, umber, red, terre verde, ultramarine, and bianco san giovani. In fresco, not many colors are needed, as the colors are kept simple, and beauty grows out of the underpainting and the different layers of paint which form depth.

by K.J. Wolf - fresco artist
Director, The Fresco School of Los Angeles (East Coast)

Once upon a time about four years ago, when the heat was stifling and I was in a small studio in Los Angeles, sifting sand to make a Fresco, I wondered what I had been dreaming about all the long years in search for just such an experience. Two chimney smoking and energetic guys, one from Russia and the other from the United Kingdom, were speaking and demonstrating at a wizard speed the deft and rich art of preparing a surface (like a skin) that would hold a glimmering and shimmering painting in lime plaster, called Fresco.

I had always wanted to paint as the masters of the Renaissance had, and here was my opportunity. I had traveled 3000 miles within the United States to find this experience, as no other was available, not even in the home of Fresco, Italy. The irony that it was, if not in my own backyard, was that it was just on the other side of the country from me.

Did you wonder how Pompeians did those deep seamless backgrounds of their frescoes?

New website featuring illustrated walkthrough of iLia Anossov's Dolphin Fresco went live today at http://DolphinFresco.com. Site features step-by-step photographs of the technique, materials used and guide.

Dolphin Fresco is a fine example of combining Ancient Pompeian Fresco method, when colored Intonaco Plaster was used to achieve uniformity of background color, Early Mediterranean laconic imagery design and Renaissance style of verdaccio underpainting is used to create a new interpretation of Classic Theme seamlessly integrated into contemporary setting.

The Fresco Shop at TrueFresco.com is undergoing a fresh beginning. With the advent of our new fresco school in Baltimore and the soon to begin restoration and fresco project at the St. John’s Cathedral, and the increasing demand for frescoes around the US, it became essential to create a complete and easily accessible resource for the hard to find fresco art supplies and materials needed by the fresco artist.

The artists at the first Baltimore workshop, held earlier this month, were the first to see some of the authentic fresco products that will become the foundation items that the Fresco Shop will sell.

With the help of Mitchell Nussbaum of Coppola Bros. Company, the renowned Italian plastering firm in Scottsdale, Arizona, TrueFresco.Com Fresco Shop will now be able to deliver these sought after fresco supplies to the beginning artist as well as for professional fresco painter. The Shop will be configured to supply both small and large fresco projects as a one-stop fresco shop.

The Fresco School is proud to announce there new project. A creation of the buon fresco cycle in St John’s of Baltimore City United Methodist Church is soon to begin. Presently the church is working on the restoration of its sanctuary.
As it is planned, the project will span over 2-7 years, iLia Anossov students will take major part in working on frescoes as well as local community members will be given the opportunity to participate and learn. Church’s own housing facility is used to setup FrescoSchool’s Baltimore location.
Inaugural 5-day buon fresco workshop is
taking place on August 18th-22nd 2004.


To Register, click this line 2 openings available!

This partnership offers very exciting possibilities. Not only will the students enrolled in these classes learn the priceless fresco techniques present in all our classes, they will have the opportunity to leave a timeless mark on the sanctuary itself.
The higher level classes will have the opportunity to decorate the interior of the church with their own frescos, while they continue their study of fresco painting.

I LA Designs, under the direction of Ilia Anossov, has recently completed a new fresco in a private home in Marina Del Rey. This is one of many recent fresco projects that I LA Designs has been commissioned to complete. The increase in demand for their expertise in the fresco technique speaks to a rebirth of interest among the public for this ancient form of art. Through their use of innovative and traditional techniques, I LA Designs has found themselves at the forefront of contemporary fresco production. The fresco in Marina Del Rey is another fine example of their skill.

The first few months of this year has been extremely busy for the artists of I LA designs. Not only were they responsible for the decoration of this years Governors Ball, but they were involved, simultaneously, in an extensive renovation project on the Park Plaza Hotel located in downtown Los Angeles. The building had aged well, yet there were many areas that had begun to deteriorate. In many places, the intricately painted ceilings had begun to crack and chip. In others, the painted plaster of the wall had been scraped; exposing chalky white streaks. In this restoration project I LA Designs drew upon their extensive experience in faux finishing, fresco & mural painting, and plaster work.

This Spring and Summer our classes in Los Angeles Will be held at the following dates:

May 13th, Fri. - 17th, Mon
June 3rd, Fri. - 7th, Mon
June 17th, Fri. - 21st, Mon

These courses consist of up to five days of intensive instruction where you will learn how to create true (buon) fresco as artists have done for centuries. At the end of June we are scheduled to go to the Fauxcadamy Awards in Las Vegas to hold a "Fresco Painting - Contemporary Tradition" demonstration, seminar/lecture, and to judge the Awards' entries. Soon after the conclusion of these events we will begin a large scale fresco project in a church in Baltimore. These events will unfortunately keep our regular workshops schedule unclear for the rest of the summer and fall. Unfortunately, we will be able to enroll only 20 people for this set of classes - it is our policy to deliver the maximum undivided attention to each by keeping our workshops within 5-7 artists per class.

Workshop configurations consist of 1 to 5 day classes:
To enroll and/or learn more - click here
To see and hear via downloadable video interviews what others have to say about our program - use this link.

or start at our Fresco Workshop's home page http://FrescoSchool.com

This fascinating fresco demonstration is an excellent opportunity for you to get familiar with the creative process and concept of buon (true) fresco - painting on wet plaster. iLia Anossov, Nathan Zakheim, and Masha Zakheim will introduce their audience to the traditional method of the true (buon) fresco and erase most of the misconception about traditional buon fresco technique that one may currently have.

The event takes place on June 29th, 2004 at Venetian Hotel Las Vegas, Nevada as part of 2004 Fauxcademy Awards week.

The TrueFresco Art Network, Fresco Society/Foundation and Fresco School would like to wish you all a happy holiday season and hope that it finds you in good spirits.

The Fresco School (FrescoSchool.com) would also like to extend an invitation to all who are interested to attend a 3 day workshop occuring in the first month of the new year. The work shop is schedualed to take place the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of January. We hope that these times work well for you. By holding our classes on the weekend we have tried to accomodate ourselves into your busy scheduals so as many people as possible can learn about the beauty of fresco painting. More information about these classes and enrollment form are available at our website here. We hope to see you there.

Again we wish you a safe and happy holiday season.

THE FRESCO SCHOOL PRESENTS
AN OPENING NIGHT PRESS AFFAIR, LIVE DEMONSTRATION & ART TALK
AT OUR NEW LOCATION THE PARK PLAZA HOTEL
607 PARK VIEW ST., 5TH FLOOR, LOS ANGELES, CA 90057
ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7th, 2003 FROM 2:00 PM TO 10:00 PM
FOLLOWED BY THE PARTY.
COME BY AND SEE BUON FRESCO FOR THE 21ST CENTURY!

This is the question that I encounter the most. The story of fresco painting began over 35,000 years ago in the caves of modern France where the Neolithic man applied natural earth pigments to the moist limestone walls of his cave to illustrate his life and beliefs. Of cause Neolithic man did not call his paintings frescoes. So as every civilization there after had own name for the technique used for the magnificent wall paintings found in it's most treasured environments, temples, public spaces and homes - the only technique that allows us to see those masterpieces thousands of years after they were created. Through the years this technique has been refined and now we know it as Buon (true) Fresco.

During the Renaissance fresco used to be regarded as “The Mother of All Arts”. Today we understand this as a glamorous statement since the fresco is so grand and we have all these gigantic palaces and cathedrals full of frescos. But at that time the true meaning of the title was that fresco painting requires working with pure pigments and natural elements and it teaches you the understanding of color and relation with itself, understanding of composition and perspective as well as everything else needed in art. Every medium we use today comes from this "simple" pigment and water technique. Then we added other mediums to adapt to other circumstances. But true understanding of color could only come from working with the pure pigment and understanding how it relates to others.