May 11, May 18, June 1, 3:00 - 4:00 PM

RSVP to Jessie Phelan at jphelan@chicagoartsacademy.org to receive the Zoom link. Space is limited and registration will be conducted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The Visual Arts Department invites students to join us for a series of master classes about the history of the genre of still life painting. From 17th century Dutch vanitas paintings, to the influential works by Cezanne and Picasso, to contemporary sculpture and installation art today, artists have used still lives for a variety of artistic intentions and for complex conceptual reasons. While intense study of a still life allows an artist to practice seeing, composing, and translating objects in space, using objects as symbols provides ways for artists to tell stories and convey messages about the transitory nature of time and our existence.  Throughout these sessions through drawing, works in color, and sculpture, we will return to theses questions: How do artists challenge perception and bring renewed attention to everyday life?How can everyday objects represent symbolic meaning and address bigger ideas and concepts? What “objects” can we assign new and / or different meaning to in order to share thoughts about and represent our time now occurring?

Painting by Violet Moyer (Class of ‘18), oil painting “Still Life”.