RENAISSANCE REIMAGINED

By Ms Michele Brennan Head of Visual Arts, Photography, and Digital Media

Letting the Light In

In the morning hours before the city of Florence bustled, I found myself on daily meanderings in search of the perfect cup of coffee. I was mesmerised by the golden glow of dawn, discovering how light shifts and plays across unfamiliar surfaces. Each day I’d follow a similar path, but the light made every journey an unexpected destination. Florence is a shapeshifter and a mystery, brought to life by the glow of light that dances across surfaces and bathes the sun-struck flagstones. It speaks of both the grandeur and the humble nature of this place, where you can see masterpieces and marble architectural feats alongside the rickety walls of crooked buildings that wedge themselves congenially, as jaunty as the elbows of the locals ordering their morning caffè. This richly historic city tendered many contradictions in my four-week intensive residency at the Angel Academy of Art. I had hoped to learn something invaluable about painting, but moreover what I discovered was a space that let the light in. This place, drenched in history, taught me old tricks and interestingly it was the element of light that finally taught me how to paint.

Representationalism - the New Avant-Guard?

As a young painting student at the University of New South Wales in the 1980s, I wrestled against the ideals of my painting lecturers, finding myself to be an anachronism. As a very young art student who wanted to learn to paint like an old master, I found myself all at sea in the storm of postmodernism that had struck Sydney in the late 80s. Although I was fascinated by the conceptual depth and complexities of the postmodernist theories that so enthralled my lecturers, I was more interested in how to move paint around the canvas in a way that was controlled, intentional, and purposeful. I was intrigued by the possibilities of meticulous illusion that paint embodied. I later learned that, in fact, realism had become a dirty word, and the artists who favoured its accurate, detailed, and overall honest depiction of a subject were the subject of enormous prejudice.

Decades later, however, support for realism has seen a resurgence. Deep research, experimentation, and innovation is breathing new life into this classic approach. In global art world trends, French sociologist, philosopher and poet Baudrillard’s phenomenon of hyperrealism (the coalescence of the real and the simulated-real in the mind of the audience) holds a contemporary focus. Australian artists CJ Hendry, Michael Zavros and Robin Eley, are among the many hugely successful contemporary artists using humble materials, such as coloured pencils and oil paints, to produce photorealistic artworks that explore the nuances of life, to widespread acclaim.

Meeting the Maestro

One of the most noteworthy champions of realism today is the inspiring British artist Michael John Angel, the founder of the Angel Academy of Art. Known to his students as Maestro, he has spent 45 years researching and experimenting in the realist style. “As realist painters, we have endured years of prejudice,” he says, “but increasingly, new young scholars are embracing the realist style - we are now the avant-garde, the new wave.”

With an international student body of over 30 nationalities and a fine arts degree program, the Angel Academy is an accredited Art Renewal Centre - a worldwide group of art academies committed to leading the revival of realism in the visual arts. On my first morning there, I overheard two students discussing the merits of cadmium red over Venetian red in oil painting, and it was at that moment I knew I had found my people. Art geeks are the best geeks.

A Day in the Life of an Angel Academy Student

Housed in an unassuming building, in a laneway behind a small department store in the centre of Florence, my first impressions of Angel Academy were dispelled as I entered the classically decorated studio space and met my four internationally diverse classmates. In my excitement and anticipation, I was reminded of my youthful days as an art student, a time in my life when I felt curious and highly engaged in the learning cycle.

Our lecturer Jered, an accomplished American painter whose manner was sparse yet knowledgeable, initiated us into the gruelling facts of our next four weeks. As I listened, my realisation that there was not a chair in sight coincided with Jered’s explanation of the merits of standing whilst painting. Thus began the saga of my poor tired feet. Fortunately, the joy of walking the city streets, visiting the many galleries, palaces, and antique markets on weekends, and engaging with the painting process in class, far outweighed the fact that I had to stand for eight hours per day, five days per week, for four entire weeks. This rigour was what I had been craving for over 30 years of teaching students how to paint. Our intense instruction would see us break for a long afternoon siesta and then reconvene, working diligently into the early Florentine evening, leaving as the sun set, in step with the local waiters as they dragged their tables onto the flagstones in preparation for the evening onslaught. The citizens of Florence are committed to the nightly aperitivo. The occasion for sociable evenings of fresh, simple food and sparkling conversation could not be deterred by the threat of a chilly winter breeze.

The Heart of Learning

The experience of an overseas professional learning fellowship works in unique ways to provide for deep and rewarding scholarship. My time in Italy solved technical problems that I had grappled with for years, reinvigorating my passion for painting, a somewhat arcane practice that is worthy of preservation.

But while the Academy taught me many things about painting, it was also the experience of being immersed in the unfamiliar, devoid of the distractions of routine, that allowed the feedback to hit its mark and the learning to resonate in such a deep manner. The feat of forgetting the world and its demanding commotion allowed for sheer engagement in the creative process, holding me enthralled and allowing me to become entirely immersed in the learning experience. While studying abroad provides a place that is wholly unfamiliar and a space that demands much of the student, its rewards are astounding. Florence offered me unique and specific knowledge; the discipline of oil painting is considered niche and somewhat esoteric – no similar or suitable course is offered locally.

Fellowships and Grants

Back Home

By Year 12, Wenona Visual Arts students are exceptionally skilled, often scoring full marks in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) and gaining selection for public exhibitions and prizes. However, in the realm of oil painting, we had yet to crack the code. Our students have regularly expressed a resounding desire to learn the realist style. The Visual Arts Department values student voice and the girls’ relationships to the world of contemporary art, while staying cognizant of the conventional requirements of the HSC examinations and syllabus.

Since my return, our HSC students have begun learning advanced skills inspired by my new-found knowledge, including the importance of large-form modelling in creating tonal contrast when painting objects in a realist style. They have been learning the intricacies of working with light, how to push it forward and back, millimetre by millimetre, in an interplay of fractional distance that is wholly engaging and yet so visually powerful. They are grasping the beauty of Rembrandt lighting, to create a sense of drama by strategically illuminating a subject from one side, and understanding the sensitivity of smudging transitions when blending, to achieve more seamless transitions between adjoining colours. The Fellowship has allowed me to inject new life into the HSC’s well-worn teaching and learning model and set our graduating artists apart.

Targeted gifted students at Wenona, who participate in the Visual Arts Talent Development Program, will in time benefit through an immersion in the drawing and drafting techniques I studied in Florence. Our Year 9 Elective Visual Arts students will also learn these approaches during the foundational stage of their course, which includes the genre of still life painting and realism, as well as lessons in brushwork and colour mixing and the facilitation of their observational skills.

These globally relevant skills are valued as exceptional knowledge by HSC examiners. They are particularly relevant to the needs and aspirations of Wenona students, who have an enormous capacity for extension.

The next step will be an engaging professional development program to teach Visual Arts staff to apply the Academy method in oil painting. It is my hope that as my professional learning experience ripples throughout our community, it will create a legacy of expertise in realism and oil painting that will set Wenona and its Visual Arts Department apart.