14-Day Beginner Series - Meet The Instructor
Mackenzie SwensonDescription
Hi, I'm Mackenzie Swenson, and thank you so much for joining me here at Artist's Academy for this 14-day starter series. Just to give you a little bit of background on me, I grew up in Wisconsin. I began drawing and painting when I was very young, a little more seriously when I was like 12 or 13, and after graduating high school, I attended two different schools specifically for drawing and painting for about eight years. One of those schools was called the Atelier Studio Program of Fine Art in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then for four years after that, I attended a school called the Grand Central Atelier in New York City. So a little bit about the style of training.
It is called an atelier, which is just a French word for studio, and this is a way of passing on information that's far closer to an apprenticeship. So the class sizes are very small, you know, maybe five to 15 students every year, and so it's very personalized instruction, and it's not a liberal arts degree, so don't have a college education, but this is a very... It goes back. It goes back to, you know, probably when it became most popular was in the late 19th century in Paris, and there were all of these little ateliers, studios, where usually one of the the favorite painters of the day, the students would come together, they would create their little atelier and they would petition this painter who they admired to come and teach them how to paint like that person. And so this is the tradition that I hail from, and, you know, it's very classical.
It's all representational, and so it's been really fun the last couple years to get to experience teaching, and then also get to take this classical education, lots of portraiture, figure drawing, and painting, doing landscapes, all the kind of painting where you make things look like things, and start to get a little bit more expressive with different things. Add in, you know, emotions, some more contemporary elements, and then also, yeah, the teaching component has been really really wonderful for me to explore. I feel really honored to have been able to work with a lot of different students. So I spent about three years teaching with the Grand Central Atelier in New York City. That's where I currently live and paint and have my studio.
I've done a couple of workshops in Paris, France, and have been able to get a really amazing couple of experiences where I'm working with students from all over the world, teaching them the fundamentals of how to approach the craft of making art, of drawing and painting, and I even have done a couple of workshops back in Minneapolis with the school that I went to originally. And so, just for the next 14 days, what we're gonna be looking at is how I think about the practice of art, how I think about my own creative path, my own process, and I'm gonna, you know, kind of use a lot of the things that I do with private mentorships that I do, and students, and, you know, different things in my workshops, and give you an overview of how to take all of these different components, that, I mean, the world of visual art is vast, right? It can be hard to break down and know where do I start? What do I paint? Where is creativity?
Where is skill? There's a million different instructors, there's a million different ways to do it, and so I just, I wanna give you a little bit of guidance in how to craft your own artistic path and share a little bit about my process and my story, what I've done with students, and, you know, and hopefully you'll get something out of it and have a little bit of a clearer understanding of how to how to really tap into and follow your own creative spark. So I hope you enjoy this 14-day starter series into drawing and painting. I'm Mackenzie Swenson, and thanks for joining us.
Just joined the class. Do I look for the next class in my email or what? I don't see the next class here.
I'm monica, 39 from Nova Scotia Canada, I signed up for this to learn how to draw and learn how to paint, along side my daughter who wants to get into animation. So it's kind of my kid and me fun lol ty for the opportunity!
I am waiting for the lesson, I have paid and your offer price a few days ago and I cant' find the lessons!
Absolute beginner. I want to learn to draw and watercolor.
Hi, I’m Dionne, 56 years old mother of three young adults and grandmother of one newly born granddaughter. I love to draw and paint but haven’t perfected it yet.
Hi, after 39 years I'm back to painting. Looking for inspiration and learning essential technics.
I'm so glad I found you on face book. I'm really looking forward to the next 14 days.
I am a very new beginner with little knowledge of drawing and painting. I am 57 and now have the time to devote towards learning to express my own creativity.
No website yet. I've been learning to paint acrylic and watercolor from YouTube. But I need help on drawing & value fundamentals.
Very much looking forward to this class