Saturday, March 29, 2008

Welcome to the Kline Academy Blog

The Kline Academy of Fine Art
Is a different place to learn to paint...draw, create, etc.

About 6 years ago, I started a couple of classes teaching painting techniques to a group of people who had all claimed to have years of painting experience but never really learned "how to paint." Since I am a full time artist, this helped to supplement my income. What I taught them, were a combination of old master skills I learned from my Maestro, Jan Saether and from the brilliant instructors at the Florence Academy of Art.

Before I knew it, I had a wait list. Last year, I bought a building to house both my studio and an atelier
for the new "Kline Academy of Fine Art." The best way to describe the importance of classical art training is with an analogy to music: If you want to be a great jazz player - you need to study scales and classical foundations. The same is true in my opinion, to become a great painter. With the impressionists and later contemporary artists, classical painting techniques were practically abolished.

Trends changed and rather then incorporating centuries of painting knowledge, art schools basically “threw the baby out with the bath water.” During the Renaissance, painting techniques were passed down from master to student. Only in the past 5 or 10 years have there been a new group of private ateliers in America as well as some universities that are trying to teach figurative painting techniques that demonstrate the magic that can be produced with a glob of color and a simple brush.

I can't tell you how many students come to me who have had years of art school, have never been "taught" how to paint! But their frustration ends at our front door!

~Cheryl Kline

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