|
 |
Administration
Email: molly@mollyjohnsonstudio.com
Website: http://www.theacademyoffineart.com
217 Broadway Street
Denmark, Wisconsin 54208 United States
Phone: 920-362-4382
Located on the cusp of Wisconsin's beautiful Door Peninsula, The Academy of Fine Art is dedicated to the highest level of instruction in classical methods of drawing and direct painting for students wishing to pursue careers as professional Representational artists. The objective of the Academy is to teach observation skills and sharpen hand/eye coordination.
The philosophy of the Academy demands the return to discipline in art, to timeless classical canons of beauty and to the study of nature as the foundation for great painting. Study at the Academy centers on the importance of drawing (particularly from the human figure) as a means to perfection in painting or sculpture.
Curriculum
The curriculum includes drawing from nineteenth century Bargue lithographs, figure drawing, cast drawing, figure painting in oil and watercolor, sculpture, plein air landscape, still life and portraiture.
Students of the Academy undertake a concentrated and individually structured curriculum. Individual objectives for each session will be clearly stated before the period begins. Students will be assigned to an appropriate curriculum and move to progressively more difficult and challenging assignments upon satisfactory completion of the preceding assignments.
"Our goal in fashioning our curriculum is to continually challenge each student yet not overwhelm them. This requires us to regularly and thoroughly observe and analyze each student's skill level and progress. This will maximize the development of each and every student." -- Craig Blietz, Instructor.
The Academy is held in four eight-week periods with a three-month summer break. Models are provided Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons.
Faculty
Molly Johnson, Owner and Executive Director
Owner and Executive Director of The Academy of Fine Art, Molly Johnson creates and teaches in oil and watercolor mediums, enjoying how each offer different challenges and disciplines.
Having been trained at The American Academy of Art, Chicago and The Academy of Fine Art, Molly's strong educational background gives her a solid understanding of the subject matter yet her works possess a sensitivity of captured moments that engage the viewer.
Johnson lives in Northeast Wisconsin where subject matter abounds. She often paints the farmlands, small towns and beautiful scenes along the shores of Lake Michigan.
Aside from being the owner and Executive Director of The Academy of Fine Art, Molly teaches watercolor and oil painting for Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and fine art classes for all ages in her studio. She actively participates in events sponsoring the growth and availability of the arts for all people. Johnson accomplishes this through volunteering on boards and committees and donating her artwork to raise funds for various causes.
Molly is honored to have shown in the 2009 and 2010 Oil Painters of America National Exhibitions, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America National Exhibition, and the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Richeson75 International Portrait/Figure Exhibition featuring her watercolor and oil figures. She participates in many juried shows and her works hang in public and private buildings throughout the United States. In 2010, Johnson was published twice in the American Art Collector Magazine along with two feature stories in the Green Bay Press Gazette.
She is a member of the Wisconsin Watercolor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America and The Oil Painters of America.
Lori Beringer, Instructor
An impressionist, known for her landscapes, still-lifes and portraits that capture a joyous celebration and a deep reverence for the blessings of each day. Her oils express a sense of excitement and energy that come from the intimate exchange of her surroundings.
Although largely a self-taught artist, Lori credits Russian, European and American artists such as Joaquin Sorolla, Nicolai Fechin and John Singer Sargent as influence for her bold vibrant style. She has studied with Daniel Gerhartz, Albert Handell, Ann Templeton, among others.
Lori paints plein air (from life) throughout the year, primarily in Wisconsin where she was born in 1958. Her travels have taken her to various painting locations within the states along with Mexico and France. Painting on site and experiencing the culture create a timeless sense of place in her work.
Lori is a founding member of the Plymouth Art Center, which was formed in 1993 and currently has over 500 members. She is also a member of Oil Painters of America.
Craig Blietz, Instructor
Craig Blietz lives and works in Northeast Wisconsin. He is best known for his rural and agrarian inspired imagery, primarily that featuring domestic farm animals. Blietz's work presents a surreal interpretation of animals in the 'pastoral scene' suggesting much about the relationship of the animals to one another and the resulting parallel to human behavior.
Blietz received a BS from The University of Denver. He continued his art and design studies at The Harrington College of Design and finished his formal studies with four years of academic training at The School of Representational Art. Blietz studied privately with master draftsman and recognized Chicago figurative artist Fred Berger. Along with Mr. Berger, Blietz studied with recognized Chicago portrait artist Richard Halstead, and also with painter, printmaker, and illustrator John Rush. Several extended trips to the art centers of both Europe and the United States, with the sole purpose being the study of the great masters, has added to Blietz's extensive education.
Blietz's work has been exhibited in venues such as The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, The Charles Allis Art Museum, The Rahr-West Art Museum, The Wright Museum, The Miller Art Museum, Muskegon Museum of Art, West Bend Art Museum, Racine Art Museum/ Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, and The Elmhurst Art Museum to name a few. Craig Blietz is represented by Edgewood Orchard Galleries in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Button-Petter Gallery in Douglas, Michigan.
Ken DeWaard, Instructor
After receiving his BA with honors, Ken worked in commercial art in Chicago while continuing his studies at the American Academy of Art with Irving Shapiro. He studied with Scott Burdick at the Palette and Chisel and with Dan Gerhartz. It was there that he adapted his direct and pure approach as well as his bravura brush style, which he achieves by painting from life.
Strongly inspired by John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla, Nicolai Fechin, and other Russian Impressionists, he paints an array of subject matter from every day life. Ken is a member of Oil Painters of America and teaches at Peninsula Art School and Barnsite Art Studio in Wisconsin.
Jeff Hargreaves, Instructor
Jeff Hargreaves is a native of southeast Wisconsin. He graduated from Layton School of Art and Design in 1972 married shortly afterward and in 1978 settled in northeastern Wisconsin. He raised his family while working in the advertising industry as an art director, creative director and ultimately as a freelance illustrator. Jeff began his training through a series of workshops, and in 2005 he pursued formalized training at The Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art.
Jeff is a full time representational fine artist, who teaches painting and drawing and runs a life drawing group he founded in 2009.
Jeff has won many regional and national awards including an Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional Award and many awards from the Richeson 75 Shows. He has been juried into many regional, national and international exhibitions, including the 18th, 19th, 20th and recently the 21st Annual Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition.
Jeff has had his work published and he's had interviews with several magazines, most recently American Art Collector Magazine.
Bren Sibilsky, Instructor
Bren Sibilsky is an international artist and full-time sculptor and painter, with work in many collections throughout North America and Europe. Having worked in the art field for over 25 years her current primary focus is sculpture in the style of classical realism with emotional undertones. Her art work is the reflection of her interests in nature and realism. According to the artist her sculptures are, "a study in understanding universal emotion." Born in 1963, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bren showed signs of exceptional artistic abilities and at age eight she asked her parents to send her to art school. Years later she graduated from the prestigious Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD), formerly the Layton School of Art, in 1987. She studied sculpture with international artist Hanna Jubran and intensive anatomical study with artist Harold Huber.
Some of Bren's many awards include being chosen as an ARC Salon finalist; her sculpture, "Aphrodite," is featured at www.artrenewal.org under sculpture finalists. Bren was a finalist in the 2011 National Sculpture Society's juried exhibition LOVE New York, N.Y. , and was also a recipient of a "Best of Sculpture" award in Manhattan Arts International's "HerStory" juried exhibition. In 2009 Bren received the Cultural Patriot Award for her sculpture "Daedalus" with The P.I.C.T.U.R.E. Art Foundation in California. She has had many one-person and group exhibitions including those at the Miller Art Museum, The Francis Hardy Gallery, Arc Gallery, Koehline Gallery, The Linden Gallery, Fairfield Center for the Arts, Cedarburg Cultural Center, Plymouth Art Center, Mystical Earth Gallery, Barnsite Gallery, Pinetop Gallery and The Manhattan Arts International Gallery.The artist has been interviewed on WBDK radio, with feature articles published in the Resorter Reporter, Peninsula Pulse, Door County Advocate, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Art Calendar Magazine, Graphic Arts Monthly Magazine and other publications. Articulate and passionate about her work Bren Sibilsky presents sculpture demonstrations and Art Studio Tours. She also teaches sculpture at The Peninsula Art School in Door County, WI and at The Academy of Fine Art (an ARC Approved Atelier) in Denmark, WI.
Dyan Elyn Wellmon, Instructor
Dyan Elyn Wellmon is a native of northeastern Wisconsin and has returned to her home state after working for 34 years in the southwestern United States, which included 27 years as a typographer/graphic designer in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is fulfilling a lifelong dream of pursuing artistic goals that she began while living and working in Las Vegas.
Dyan began her education at the University of Wisconsin Manitowoc and advanced her education at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Her art education began in the latter and upon her return to Wisconsin, she studied at the Gordon School of Art with John Gordon for three years. In 2008, Dyan was accepted into the Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art and studied under artistic director Craig Blietz for three years. In 2012, Dyan returned to the Academy of Fine Art (formerly the Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art) in Denmark, WI to complete the certificate program and began teaching at the Academy in 2013. She has supplemented her formal training with additional study from many nationally recognized artists, and continues to do so.
Dyan's works have shown in many juried exhibitions in Wisconsin. Currently, she works out of her studio in Ledgeview. She states, "I am lured into doing a painting by the excitement of designing and composing, whether I am setting up a still life or a portrait. The subject matter, the message, the design, the lighting, the point of view, the warmth or coolness - all are decisions that affect how a piece is experienced by the viewer - and it is my privilege to establish those."
Mark Zelten, Instructor
For Mark Zelten, artistic expression has always been a major factor in his life, but in recent years, it has become an obsession. Starting with extensive workshops with nationally renowned painters such as David Leffel and Everett Raymond Kinstler, and culminating in his formal training and 2008 graduation from the Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art. There, he studied under the masterful vision of Door County painter and artistic director Craig Blietz. Since then, this Northeastern Wisconsin native has become an instructor at the Academy, while his paintings have appeared in numerous juried exhibitions, including the Miller Museum in Sturgeon Bay, the annual Arts Unlimited show in Green Bay, where he received a First Place award for portraiture, the Francis Hardy Center for the Arts in Ephraim, where he garnered a Juror's choice award, the Cedarburg Plein Air Festival Quick Paint event, earning an Honorable Mention and most recently, acceptance in the Oil Painter's of America Eastern Regional Exhibit in Wilmington North Carolina. Mark has quickly forged a remarkable retinue of portrait and landscape painting and has continued his study with workshops from Tony Pro and Wisconsin master painter Dan Gerhartz.
Last updated on 2013-03-08
|
 |
