Fernando Freitas of the Angel Studios in Toronto explains the art academy's unique four-level programs to MEA director Mary McAndrew.
Fernando Freitas of the Angel Studios in Toronto explains the art academy's unique four-level programs to MEA director Mary McAndrew.
Toronto (mea) The recent trip to Toronto by MEA director Mary McAndrew and John Zavrel, the founder of the Museum, to establish the first contacts with the art community in Canada met with unexpected success. They visited the ANGEL STUDIOS, and art academy where students are taught how to paint in the classic, realistic style.
"The painter and art instructor Fernando Freitas gave us a two-hour tour of the studios, explaining their unique system of instruction, just like in the French ateliers of the 1800s", said Mary McAndrew about the visit.
According to Fernando Freitas, the academy offers an intensive program with a diploma in traditional drawing and painting. " It is one of very few such institutions in the world, and we have a curriculum which is designed to produce the highest caliber of professional artists who are equipped to become the new leaders in the emerging renaissance of classic, realistic painting', pointed out the artist.
"The art academy's program is a unique four-level course developed after 30 years of research and experiments by the school's founder, mural painter and portraitist Michael John Angel. The course design is based on techniques and methods first discovered in the Italian Renaissance and developed in the French ateliers in the 1800's--it is the fastest possible way to learn how to draw and paint realistically, at the highest level", said Mr. Freitas.
The school has a second location in Florence, Italy--one of the world capitals of art.
The school is located near Toronto's downtown, in an historic area of the city, and is a short walk from the underground transit system, which gives easy access to the city's great diversity of culture, cuisine, night-life and the performing arts. The neighborhood is a richly multi-ethnic zone, reflecting Toronto's varied cultural fabric.
"This unique art school is a truly phenomenal place for the young artist who wants to learn to draw and pain the proper way, like in the days of the old masters of painting. You would have to go as far as New York City or Chicago to find anything like this. It is a great opportunity for students living in the metropolitan triangle Buffalo-Toronto-Syracuse. And they also accept part-time students, so even those who do not live in Toronto or who have regular jobs still can get instruction, according to their possibilities', said Mary McAndrew.