Art Students league of new york

[Eugie]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has attended any of the workshops in "Art Students League of New York (http://www.theartstudentsleague.org/)." If so, if it's worth the money, and more importantly the time. If yes, any specific instructors who stand out and offer priceless advice. I am looking to broaden my horizons with figure drawing and painting, unfortunately private art schools are too expensive atm so I have to find other ways to improve my art. I am also thinking about taking some classes at schoolism.com mainly Bobby Chiu and Stephen Silver, any information about their classes. Has anyone ever taken their classes? Any info would be a big help thanks!

[JParrilla]

I took a few classes at the league and I have nothing bad to say about it. I was taught by Sherry Camhy who is a great artist. It was a life drawing class. We basically had a few 5 minute poses.. then some 10 minutes.. then two long ones. As this was going on, the other side of the class did a week long pose. You can choose where you want to be at the beginning of every week depending on what you want to work onn .. a very polished painting or drawing.. or some gestures and quick poses. So ya its a great place, nice people, and theyve had some really cool teachers over the years. Most notably George Bridgman

[Eugie]

Thanks bigjoe for the info, I am set on going there this summer and getting my fix.

[Sung-jae Kim]

I don't know how the workshops are, but there are some good classes.
I'd recommend Michael Grimaldi's class (though I'm not sure if you'd be able to get in this summer since it's probably full). Right now we're doing 2wk on 1 side and 3 wk on the other.
Dan Thomson good as well.
Frank Porcu is good if you want a more structural approach to drawing figures. (not sure if he's back yet)
I haven't tried the other teachers, but get a catalog and pick instructors whose work you like.

[Eugie]

I was hoping to register for Grimaldi's class this week I hope it's not full thanks for the tips.

[Art_Addict]

Yes...take Michael Grimaldi's classes. You'll learn a ton!

[FlameDragon]

Michael Grimaldi is pretty great, I hope I can get into his class someday. I had Nikki Orbach, she was alright but I didn't feel like I received the kind of instruction I was hoping for.

[Streetz]

I plan to be taking some classes there also this summer. I have to desperately work on figure drawing. Frank Porcu's class looks great. Goodluck.

[Eugie]

Well I ended up taking sherry camhy's class which is great, I would recommend her class to anyone.

[bagochips]

I'm taking Orbach and McElhinney for life drawing right now and will start painting with Teply over the weekend.

I like Orbach's approach and lecture insight (we recently did an exercise where we drew the skulls of our model first, and then drew over it with "skin" - very cool and insightful exercise) but wish we would receive more personal instruction while we're drawing. She also does this nice thing where she plays music to mark the timeframe for poses. It's a nice practical approach and adds an element of depth to the pose/your drawings.

I just came back from McElhinney today. He's a character. He's more into art as a concept and throws around a lot of pretentious abstract fanfare ("these are not tricks, they're methods to seek the truth"). He's also not teaching us anatomy for the first month even though his class is an anatomy class because "anatomy is the composition of the figure. composition is the anatomy of the page. so we'll concentrate on composition for the first month." I'm going to stick with him for the rest of the month, but I have a feeling I'm not going to renew my registration with him once the month's over.

Overall impression of my first week at the Art Students League: I like it.

[Eugie]

Good to hear chips always good to get some insight on the instructors, I will keep what you said in mind for future references.

[Eugie]

Also, for everyone that's attending perhaps we can meet up sometime, and attend a sketchgroup or something together, sounds like a lot of fun.

[Maxine Schacker]

It's great to hear that good things are still happening at the League! That place changed my life long before any of you were born. I have nothing but good memories.

[FlameDragon]

I like Orbach's approach and lecture insight (we recently did an exercise where we drew the skulls of our model first, and then drew over it with "skin" - very cool and insightful exercise) but wish we would receive more personal instruction while we're drawing. She also does this nice thing where she plays music to mark the timeframe for poses. It's a nice practical approach and adds an element of depth to the pose/your drawings.


Yeah, the music was a nice touch...it's the only life drawing place I've been to that had music, and it was quite invigorating. That exercise with the skulls sounds great! When I had her, we didn't do any exercises like that. I agree with the yearning for more personal instruction, I always found myself wanting more critique.

[Zarahn Southon]

Did you get to do Grimaldi's class?

[Eugie]

Did you get to do Grimaldi's class?

I have no clue if this is directed towards me but, no I didn't I learned a lot in Camhy's class though.

[Streetz]

Eugie I have been in Camhy's class all summer. We might have met.

I just wanted to say that the Arts Student League has been a great experience. Everyone there is very focused and willing to help. I think I have learned a lot from my peers and I plan to keep taking classes there. I would recommend this place to everyone in the area. The one flaw I see is as mentioned previously, there can be a lack of personal instruction depending on the teacher.

Sung-jae Kim are you still in Michael Grimaldi's class ?

[Sung-jae Kim]

Sorry, haven't been visiting the forums lately.
I am still in Michael Grimaldi's class studio 1&2 (2nd floor) in morning and studio 7 (4th floor) in the afternoon. I went into Camhy's class today to look around during one of the breaks ( around 3pm? i was in a yellow shirt) I'll probably wander tomorrow wearing a batman & robin shirt :P
Say hi if you see me :)

[Uglyographer]

Hello! I'll be attending Michael Grimaldi's class this September. The 8:45 am Anatomy for Artists/Elements of Drawing class. Wondering who else will be there. Say hi! My name is Jess and I'm friendly, though I haven't seen 8:45 am in awhile, so maybe friendly and sleepy and incoherent at that hour.

[lolbbq]

Amazing school

[Streetz]

Jess - My name is Mauricio. I will be there too. Probably semi awake as well. New poses for the new term ! ! !


Sung-jae Kim- I was working by John on the short pose side for the last 2 weeks.