About the Ani Art Academies Language of Drawing:

…The Ani Art Academies Core training program was created initially for all of the students of The Ani Art Academies.  The system is designed to develop fundamental representational drawing skills through a particular sequence of exercises.  The Academies’ curriculum focuses on essential fundamentals of draftsmanship, properties of light, elements of perception, and various methods of painting without subscribing to any particular aesthetic.  Through a comprehensive series of simple but challenging repetitive exercises, Ani Art Academies’ Apprentices develop the ability to communicate with a vocabulary of confident marks, lines, and values. It is the Artist’s particular employ of this highly adaptable visual vocabulary that will begin to reveal an artistic vision, and ultimately, a unique voice.

The Ani training system is designed as a precursor to a specific genre specialization.  The skills that are garnered from the Ani Art Academies training program are applicable to all venues of the Realist endeavor and beyond.

It is important that those interested in this program understand that this series is NOT intended as ‘Edutainment’.  It is not meant to be entertaining or intended as advertisement.  There are no pretty models, happy trees, or hours of witty banter.  It is our true unadorned curriculum as simple and direct as we can make it.  The discs are not designed to be watched end to end, rather—you watch the appropriate assignment and then YOU get to work…

And don’t forget that many of the design plans for our tools/resources (The Waichulis Form Box, The Ani Shadow Box, The Ani Grid Stand…etc…) will be available for free download on our site around the time of launch.  So be sure to download these free resources on or after the 23rd!  Again—-It’s all very exciting for us to finally be able to share this will all of you.

**Inventories are limited for this initial launch, but our suppliers/manufacturers assure us that new any new inventories we require can be available in as little as two weeks.  We appreciate everyone’s patience in our efforts to get our training system into the hands of so many.  Watch the main Store page (http://www.aniwaichulis.com/coreprogramdvd/) for updates on any time estimate notices regarding order fulfillment and shipping.

Michael and Nelida Klein created American Painting Video Magazine with the goal of bringing together talented artists from all over the country.  “We enjoyed hearing conversations going on behind the scenes about art and its’ place in history, we decided it was too important to not share with everyone.”  Klein Art Productions was started in 2008 with the help of Michael’s two siblings.  It is a family business and we are honored to be able to create a place for anyone to come and find inspiration.   –from http://www.americanpaintingvideomagazine.com/aboutus.html

For more information on the American Painting Video Magazine or to download the Fall issue discussed here, please visit: http://www.americanpaintingvideomagazine.com/

Anthony Waichulis, Brad Kunkle, Christopher Gallego, Dan Thompson, David Kassan, Edward Minoff, Graydon Parrish, Jacob Collins, Jacob A. Pfeiffer, Jefferson Hayman, Jeremy Mann, Kate Lehman, Kim Cogan Kris Kuksi, Kris Lewis, Lee Misenheimer, Michael Grimaldi, Rob Leecock, Scott Waddell, Shawn Smith, Shawn Barber, Steven Assael, Tony Curanaj, Travis Schlaht, Will Wilson

Additional Information from joshualinergallery.com:

Though considered divergent from the postwar developments of Pop, Conceptual, and Minimalist art (among others), the curriculum of classical art training—with its emphasis on skill and the realistic depiction of the figure, still life, and landscape—has nevertheless continued to evolve through the interests and talents of contemporary artists. Creating on the fringes of graduate-school art programs and modern art theory, these intrepid practitioners of traditional art forms and techniques have kept them alive and vibrant, while reinterpreting them through the social and visual culture of their time.

Such influences as Van Eyck, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt, as well as Klimt, Degas, and the pre- Raphaelites, to name but a few, can be discerned in many of the figure and portrait paintings and drawings collected here. The gestures, settings, and mood, however, are entirely of the moment, emphasizing the evergreen nature of classical training and its capacity to adapt to whatever arises, from tattoo culture to contemporary graphic design. Vestiges of Turner, Eakins, and other masters are also apparent in the landscape and figurative works included, but elsewhere one can see the boundary-pushing daring of more recent and contemporary figures such as Andrew Wyeth, Antonio López Garc?a, and Odd Nerdrum.

Among the painters featured, all work in traditional media, most employing oils or egg tempera on canvas, linen, or panel. The sculptors choose from more unorthodox materials, such as toy figurines and dyed blocks of wood, while continuing a dialogue with their time through the tools and history of realism. The founders, teachers, or graduates of such influential institutions as the Water Street Atelier, Grand Central Academy of Art, New York Academy of Art, Ani Art Academy, and Janus Collaborative School of Art are included in the exhibition. In their masterful hands, the tendency toward realism serves a fresh, new generation of artists in capturing their disparate worlds, lives, and vision.

According to curator-artist Tony Curanaj: “This exhibition of colleagues and influences reflects a relatively narrow but varied slice of the art world, and presents it to an audience that may not be exposed to this segment of contemporary art practice. The title Resolve speaks of their determination and progression, qualities that imbue each of these works with beauty and technical virtuosity. From concept to execution, these contemporary masters of their craft are completely engaged in the artist’s process and an artistic direction that is unwavering, regardless of fashion or trend.”

To learn more about this exciting exhibit, please visit: joshualinergallery.com

WHAT and WHERE:

Joshua Liner Gallery
548 West 28th Street 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001
P: (212) 244-7415
F:  (212) 244-7416
E:  info@joshualinergallery.com
Gallery Hours
Tuesday — Saturday
11 — 6PM
Reception Thursday January 26 from 6-9pm

In recent months we have watched as a very large ‘watch-list’ has formed for this series and we are incredibly grateful for all the interest and support.  At this time I would like to provide a little more information about The Language of Drawing and its’ release.
The Ani Art Academies Core training program was created initially for all of the students of The Ani Art Academies.  The system is designed to develop fundamental representational drawing skills through a particular sequence of exercises.  The Academies’ curriculum focuses on essential fundamentals of draftsmanship, properties of light, elements of perception, and various methods of painting without subscribing to any particular aesthetic.  Through a comprehensive series of simple but challenging repetitive exercises, Ani Art Academies’ Apprentices develop the ability to communicate with a vocabulary of confident marks, lines, and values. It is the Artist’s particular employ of this highly adaptable visual vocabulary that will begin to reveal an artistic vision, and ultimately, a unique voice.

The Ani training system is designed as a precursor to a specific genre specialization.  The skills that are garnered from the Ani Art Academies training program are applicable to all venues of the Realist endeavor and beyond.

It is important that those interested in this program understand that this series is NOT intended as Edutainment.  It is not meant to be entertaining or intended as advertisement.  There are no pretty models, happy trees, or hours of witty banter.  It is our true unadorned curriculum as simple and direct as we can make it.  The discs are not designed to be watched end to end, rather—you watch the appropriate assignment and then YOU get to work.

As many of you already know at this point, The entire Ani Art Academies Core Program DVD series will be 6 DVDs in length, however due to the amount of information included it may spill over into a 7th.  The entire system is divided into two main sections, The Language of Drawing and The Language of Painting.   The course will also contain a companion workbook on CD.  With our companion text on disc, sections can be printed as needed, resulting in a complete record of your journey when finished.  An included Ani Art Academies binder contains all model sheets required for the specific program exercises.

Also available for purchase or free plan download will be:
Collapsible Shadow Box**
Grid Stand**
Natural Form/Cast Stand**
Floating Island (for larger studios)**
Model Stand (for larger studios)**
(projected prices for these items will be forthcoming from the manufacturer)**.

More updates will be forthcoming as we near the release date.  Right now it is still looking like early Feb. for everything!  We will announce a specific release date as soon as possible.  Again, we thank you all for your continued interest and support.

You can subscribe to our newsletter through the www.aniwaichulis.com website here: Subscribe Ani Waichulis website or for those of you on Facebook, you can subscribe though our Ani Art Academy Waichulis Facebook page here:  Subscribe Facebook.  We look forward to sharing our latest news and efforts with you!

Now that the first of a number of planned Ani Art Academies around the world has been structurally completed in the Limestone Bay area in Anguilla, Government officials and members of the public, including school children, have had an opportunity to tour the facility. That chance was provided during an open day event held on Tuesday afternoon this week.

“This is the first of a number of schools to be built around the world,” Project Director, Ira Bloom, told reporters. “The purpose of the schools is to teach young aspiring artists how to draw and paint … to make a career for themselves. Tim Reynolds, who is the owner of Ani Villas, is funding the development and operation of the schools and they all are going to be free for students. So the school here is completely free for Anguillian students; the tuition, materials and everything else are paid for.”

Bloom continued: “The objective is that a good number of students will graduate from the programme here in Anguilla and will be able to produce work to be sold both locally and internationally. Together with the villas, the school will be helping to market the work of the students, with all the proceeds going to the students themselves. We hope to get support from the local tourism industry, the hotels, galleries and other villas to help showcase and market the work of the artists here. I can see us for one day a week, for a few hours, holding an open house at the school so that interested tourists can see what the students are learning. Other times we will also use the school as a gallery for shows.”

Mr. Bloom said that, currently, another school was under construction in the Dominican Republic and targeted for opening in June next year; and land was being finalized in Thailand and Sri Lanka for art academies there hopefully in 2013.  It is being arranged for the art academy to be opened in Anguilla around the first week of March coming. The full-time professor, Timothy Jahn, who is presently in Anguilla, is expected to return to the island in January to interview and select the first group of some ten students, others being added later on.

“I will be the only teacher here so that we will keep the teacher/student ratio at 1:25. We will never exceed that,” Professor Jahn said. “I will be here definitely for two years, but it could be more depending on how things work for the entire foundation. Anybody who takes my place will be a qualified and certified instructor, and eventually we want an Anguillian to run the school so that is our long-term goal.”  Mr. Bloom and Mr. Jahn took the opportunity to escort the visitors on a tour of the school, and Anthony Waichulis, creator of the teaching methodology, explained the approach to the three-year programme. The tutoring will first concentrate on developing basic art skills in black and white and later proceed to colour painting.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking here: http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wvia/local-wvia-994009.mp3

Below is an excerpt from a feature covering this very special exhibit by The Times Leader’s Features Writer, Mary Therese Biebel:

“The “Ani Art Academy Waichulis’ Capturing Realism 2011” exhibit includes Still Lifes, Portraits, Landscapes and Trompe L’oeil pieces from the students of Anthony Waichulis of Bear Creek, Joel Carson Jones of Plymouth and Timothy Jahn of New Jersey.  For Waichulis, 39, an exhibit at Misericordia is an every-other-year tradition. But this is the first time he’s showcased his work there since January, when his Bear Creek studio became known as the Ani Art Academy Waichulis.

He’s excited about the change, which he believes will lead to his methods of art instruction spreading around the globe.  In 2010, Waichulis said, patron of the arts Tim Reynolds, who is also co-founder of a Wall Street trading company, asked his help in establishing a series of art schools.  “He approached us because he learned of our studio and our success,” said Waichulis, whose works have been shown at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and have appeared in American Art Collector and Fine Art Connoisseur magazines.  Waichulis agreed to have his studio become the first Ani Art Academy, named for a derivation of a Nigerian word that means “path.” The second Ani Art Academy is on the Caribbean island of Anguilla, and a third is near completion in the Dominican Republic.   “I will not be teaching there,” Waichulis said. “But the artists that leave the flagship school here, those graduates will be offered teaching positions at those schools.”

Waichulis’ philosophy of artistic training involves an apprenticeship program with a small teacher-to-student ratio. It starts with “a very natural approach to the fundamentals of drawing and painting, a replication of the natural world that we can observe,” he said, and continues as students “augment their ideas with artistic license.” “I can’t imagine getting training like that anywhere else,” said Vinson, a former student. “We’d paint from 8 in the morning until 2 in the morning, constant work and study. (Waichulis) was always available. He was the perfect teacher in that he’d give you encouragement and instruction but also crack the whip.”

Waichulis said he will use the local talents of Mario Bellizia, Ken Marquis of Marquis Art and Frame, Keith Schutter of Cadworx and Co. and Dave Tredinnick of Tredinnick Construction for studio furniture, design and construction as well as teaching aid, production, materials and framing. “I am very proud to be able to work with each of these brilliant people,” he said.”

What and Where and When:

What: ‘Ani Art Academy Waichulis’ Capturing Realism 2011’ exhibit

Where: Pauly Friedman Gallery, Misericordia University, Dallas Township

When: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays; 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

The Butler Institute is the first museum of American art. The museum’s mission is to preserve and collect works of art in all media created by citizens of our country. The Institute’s holdings now exceed 20,000 individual works, and the Butler is known worldwide as “America’s Museum.”  This Stunning exhibit open on December 18th 2011 and runs through January 22nd 2012.  The Reception will be on January 22,2012 from 1:00 to 3:00pm.  Hope to see you there!

Once again ACOPAL hosted another amazing call-to-artists to offer the chance to participate in this exhibit.  You can see the top 50 finalists and the Grand Prize winners here: http://acopal.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=59

When and Where:
Exhibition Dates: December 18, 2011 – February 26, 2012
Reception Date: – January 22, 2012 – 1-3PM

The Butler Institute of American Art
524 Wick Avenue
Youngstown, Ohio 44502
www.butlerart.com

America China Artists Oil Painting League
National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park South
New York, NY 10003
WWW.ACOPAL.ORG

Artists from these ateliers will celebrate Mr. Waichulis’ biennial homecoming with a carefully selected representation of realist works including still life, Trompe L’oeil, landscape, portrait and figure renderings in graphite, charcoal, oil and pastel. The opening reception will be held Saturday, Oct. 29 from 5-8 p.m. The evening’s events are open free to the public.

Pauly Friedman Art Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday; and Saturday and Sunday, 1-5 p.m.

Mr. Waichulis, a native of Bear Creek Township, Pa., is founder of the highly successful Waichulis Studio and program designer for the Ani Art Academies. He has established an international reputation for his Trompe L’oeil paintings. His works are highly prized by knowledgeable collectors worldwide and have been lauded by critics on many occasions. Mr. Waichulis is represented by The John Pence Gallery in San Francisco, Calif., one of the most prestigious galleries in the United States, and he has exhibited in many of the most respected venues throughout the country, including the Arnot Art Museum, The Washington Museum of Fine Arts, The Smithsonian Institute, The Midwest Museum of American Art and the Orlando Museum of Art.

Mr. Waichulis’ works continue to appear regularly in top national publications such as The Artist’s Magazine, American Art Collector magazine and Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. His efforts have gained top honors in both national and international competitions as he continues to command an ever-widening audience. In 2006, Mr. Waichulis became the first Trompe L’oeil painter to be granted Living Master status by the Art Renewal Center.

In 2010, The Waichulis Studio was approached by a newly forming entity with aspirations for an educational effort on a global scale. This new entity, The Ani Art Academies, was the brainchild of Mr. Tim Reynolds. A co-founder of a thriving Wall Street, N.Y., trading firm, Mr. Reynolds is a passionate artist, patron of the arts and founder of The Tim Reynolds Foundation. He felt that placing some of the strongest artistic training into the hands of many aspiring artists around the world would give rise to a generation of creatives capable of contributing exciting new ideas, sharing robust cultures, and pioneering new means of connection and communication through expression on a scale not seen before. The name “Ani” was chosen to represent this massive undertaking as it is a play on the Swahili word “Andjani,” meaning the “road” or the “path ahead.” With Mr. Reynolds’ inspiring vision in place, The Waichulis Studio merged with The Ani Art Academies project to create, The Ani Art Academy Waichulis, a new entity with far more resources and opportunities for aspiring artists today.

Additional Ani Art Academies will open in 2012 — one on the Caribbean island of Anguilla (Ani Art Academies Anguilla) and the third in the Dominican Republic (Ani Art Academies Dominicana). Academies are also scheduled to open in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka in the very near future.

In addition to Mr. Waichulis, other artists featured in the Pauly Friedman Art Gallery exhibit include:

Timothy W. Jahn, Joel Carson Jones, Jonah Aben, Kelsey Amy, Erin Anderson, Erika Baez, Justin Balliet, Oleksandra Barysheva, Svitlana Barysheva, Monica Baumann, Helen Crispino, Rodney Davis, Edward Dillon, Brandon D. Drake, Stuart Dunkel, Lois Edwards, Star Galler, Justin Gu, Emma Hirst, Beverly Jean Johnston, Alicia L. Lang, Roger C. Long, Ricardo E. Martinez, Neil Mattern, Steve Mihal, Laura Mitchell, Kevin A. Moore, Brian O’Neill, Bernard Poremba, Omar Rodriguez Jr., Terese Rogers, Kate Sammons, Adam Vinson, Leah Waichulis, Susan Wallace, Zachary Wood, Stephen Yavorski, Kierstin C. Young, Joe Dillon, Sharon Hourigan, and Michael E. Hockenbury.

For more information about The Ani Art Academies, please log on to www.aniwaichulis.com or www.aniartacademies.org. For more information about the Misericordia University Pauly Friedman Art Gallery, please contact (570) 674-6250 or log on to www.misericordia.edu/art.