We are proud to announce the addition of two new interdisciplinary specializations of Contemporary Realism and Fine Arts Illustration as part of our existing majors in painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture. Starting in the fall of 2012, these new programs will encourage cross disciplinary study and the acquisition of professional expertise in realist representational artmaking techniques and in fine arts illustration.
“From its inception, PAFA has had a stake in the debates and prospects of realist art--not simply as a style, but as a threshold to all the questions of history, expression, and form that would come to include abstraction,” says Scott Noel, Associate Professor at PAFA. “The Academy is the home to three vivid fields of visual inquiry which emerged in a realist matrix: the rigorous optical empiricism of Eakins; the colorism of Carles; and the narrative concerns of the Pyle/Wyeth axis and Henri and the Ashcan School.”
PAFA’s Contemporary Realism specialization provides a rigorous training for figurative and representational artists, offering a wide range of representational or realist-oriented courses. Highlights of the new Contemporary Realism specialization include working with accomplished realist painters, sculptors and printmakers; developing skills in a community of like-minded realist student-artists and faculty mentors; enrolling in focused electives based on the realist tradition; and experiencing incomparable co-curricular and internship opportunities.
The Fine Arts Illustration specialization at PAFA is part of skill-based and discipline-based programs in the fine arts, offering courses in book arts, narrative and sequential imagery, digital media, illustration technique and other forms of fine arts illustration. Students are assigned a Fine Arts Illustration faculty mentor to create a personal course of study within the programs of painting, drawing, sculpture or printmaking. Frequent guest artists and workshops featuring masters of contemporary illustration provide first-hand exposure to the professional world of fine arts illustration.
“The new interdisciplinary specializations provide a way to focus PAFA’s extraordinary fine arts training in support of two of its historic strengths: realist art and the Academy’s tradition of fine arts illustration,” says Jeffrey Carr, Dean of the School. “While completing coursework in one of PAFA’s established majors or concentrations, students in Fine Arts Illustration or Contemporary Realism will work with a group of faculty mentors who are experts in these areas of studio artmaking. They will also be exposed to visiting artists and workshops to further develop their skills as realist artists or fine arts illustrators. Our goal is to build on the Academy’s acknowledged strengths in fostering fine arts skills in representational imagery.”
Students who complete the new specialization may obtain: a Certificate with a major in Painting, Drawing, Printmaking or Sculpture with a specialization in Contemporary Realism or Fine Arts Illustration, or a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Painting, Drawing, Printmaking or Sculpture with a specialization in Contemporary Realism or Fine Arts Illustration.
PAFA offers unrivaled training in technical skills, artistic abilities and studio practice. Advanced students of all disciplines receive personal studio space and are invited to exhibit their work in PAFA’s ground-breaking Annual Student Exhibition, the nation’s oldest and largest student show.
For more information about the Contemporary Realism and Fine Arts Illustration specializations, please contact Jeffrey Carr, Dean of the School, at 215-972-7623 or jcarr@pafa.org.