.
"Where artists become better artists"
Copyright © 2008* Art In The Mountains * All Rights Reserved
    Go beyond the limiting label of
    “style” and learn instead how
    painting really works. Sherrie
    McGraw will demonstrate still
    life, portrait, and nude figure
    painting explaining how each bit
    of information can further that
    idea. She will teach you how to
    recognize an idea in your set-up
    and then stay true to that idea.
    Once you know what the
    intention is for a painting, your
    technical proficiency will catch
    up, pulling you forward on the
    journey to becoming a better
    artist. McGraw is the author of
    The Language of Drawing.


By the time she was
thirty, Sherrie was
teaching classes at the
Art Students League.
 
Sherrie McGraw

The Beauty of Visual Ideas in Realism
Oil - Studio

June 18 - 22, 2012
Bend, OR

Cost $795 (includes model fees)

Beginning to Advanced

    SHERRIE MCGRAW has been at the forefront
    of the American Art scene for over thirty years.  As
    a young woman in Oklahoma City in 1978, she was
    urged by her teachers Richard and Edith Goetz to
    move to New York City to study at the famed Art
    Students League where they had studied within the
    lineage of Robert Brackman and George
    Bridgeman.  In her initial years at the League she
    studied primarily with legendary artist, David A.
    Leffel, but also learned anatomy through Robert
    Beverly Hale and later, from Jon Zahourek at the
    New York Academy.
    After just a few years in New York, she was
    already proceeding to make her own way as an
    exceptional artist and began exhibiting and winning
    awards in shows at the Salmagundi Club, the
    National Arts Club, the Washington Square
    Outdoor Art Exhibit, the Pastel Society, the
    Hudson Valley Art Association, and more.  By the
    time she was thirty, she was teaching classes at the
    Art Students League, having been asked to take
    over those of Thomas Fogarty and Gustav
    Rehberger, as well as conduct her own.
    Currently, McGraw teaches workshops throughout
    the country. She gives lectures and demonstrations
    for art institutions such as the Portrait Society of
    America, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art,
    Brigham Young University, the Art Students League
    of New York, the Los Angeles Academy of
    Figurative Art, Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia,
    Weekend with the Masters (American Artist
    Magazine) and the Academy of Art University in
    San Francisco, where she was awarded an
    honorary doctorate in May of 2010.  Her work has
    been shown in major institutions including the
    National Museum of Wildlife Art, the Gilcrease
    Museum, the National Cowboy and Western
    Heritage Museum, and the Tucson Museum, as well
    as numerous prestigious collections, such as that of
    Senator John Warner, the Mellon family, the
    Forbes family, John Geraghty, Forest Fenn,
    Howard Terpning, John Mellencamp, George
    Carlson, Scott Christensen, and musicians Ida
    Kavafian, Steve Tenenbom, and Peter Wiley.  She
    was the Vice-President of American Women
    Artists and helped orchestrate an exhibition
    presented in a 17th century Cloister in Sorrento,
    Italy. And much to the citizens and Mayor’s delight,
    she gave a thank you speech in Italian.
    McGraw is a leading proponent of Abstract
    Realism. Though not new, this art movement that
    has gotten little notice as the distinct departure from
    most realism that it is. The abstract beauty of paint
    combines with a recognizable image and paint
    quality, color, edges and shapes are used to lead the
    viewer’s eye through the painting and become a
    visual undercurrent that quietly captivates the
    observer. The visual concept, independent of story-
    telling or literary intent, lends gravity to an image that
    might otherwise be—at its extreme manifestations—
    merely self-expression or technical facility.
     Abstract Realism combines the inherent abstract
    beauty of paint itself with a visual concept. Rather
    than being slave to verisimilitude, Abstract Realists
    use subject matter to convey a deeper visual
    message that goes beyond image making.
    McGraw is the author of the highly acclaimed book,
    The Language of Drawing, which has been
    drawing worldwide attention.  She edited and wrote
    a foreword to The Drawings of Nicolai Fechin by
    Russia’s famed author Galina Tuluzakova, and
    worked on an initial edit of Tuluzakova’s new book
    on Fechin’s paintings, coming out later this year.
    She is presently writing a book on painting.

Class Outline
    Monday Morning: Still Life Demonstration
    Monday Afternoon: Students set up their still lifes and find an idea.
    Monday Evening: Presentation on Abstract Realism.

    Tuesday: Clothed Figure Painting Model A. Individual Critiques

    Wednesday Morning: Portrait Demonstration Model B.
    Wednesday Afternoon: Portrait Painting Model B. Individual Critiques
    Wednesday Evening: Optional No-host Class Dinner. Your Guests Welcome

    Thursday Morning: Portrait Painting Model B. Individual Critiques
    Thursday Afternoon: Nude Model Painting Model C

    Friday Morning: Possibly an impromptu demo. This will depend on the class needs.
    Friday Afternoon: Nude Model Painting Model C. Individual Critiques

    In this class, students will learn about visual concepts in realistic oil painting.  McGraw will demonstrate still life,
    portrait, and nude figure painting explaining the visual concepts in each set-up. She states, “If a visual concept is
    strong enough, it can carry most any lack of technical ability the student has, and is the first and most important
    concern of any artist. In order to get better, the student must know what his or her intention is for the painting, which
    is the ‘idea’.  Then technical proficiency will catch up, thus pulling the student forward on the journey to becoming an
    artist.”

    McGraw will show her PPT presentation on this form of realism, called Abstract Realism. She highlights some of the
    greatest examples that this movement, which has been quietly brewing in the world of Realism for centuries, has to
    offer. She will show how this way of thinking about painting comes in many expressions, thus urging students to go
    beyond the limiting label of “style” and learn how painting really works. Painting is a language, and as such, it is
    learnable.

    McGraw will spend the remainder of the week helping students recognize an idea in their set-up, and then stay true to
    that idea. McGraw believes that generally, painting problems arise from one mistake: when information irrelevant to the
    visual concept creeps into the painting, usually with the accompanying excuse, “. . . but it was there!”

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