| 2025 SUMMER in PARIS | DRAWING STUDIO with David BAIRD |
“I assure you no art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and study of the great masters; of inspiration, spontaneity, temperament — temperament is the word — I know nothing.”– Edgar DEGAS, Impressions and Opinions (1891)
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| LOCATION: | SUMMER in PARIS | DRAWING STUDIO will convene at our Paris Program Studio in Montmartre. Please see our Facilities page for complete details on our campus and school facilities. |
CLASS DATES: |
Monday, 30 JUNE – Friday, 11 JULY 2025 |
| CLASS SCHEDULE: |
Studio sessions will be held for 2 weeks total, Monday – Friday 25 hrs figure model weekly (5 hours daily), 5 days per week. |
| CLASS SIZE: | 10 students + instructor(s) |
| WHO is ELIGIBLE? | Anyone may apply. There are no academic or other pre-requisites. Students must enroll for entire 2 weeks. |
| TUITION PRICE: | 1600 EUR (Cost of housing in Paris not included.) |
| APPLICATION DEADLINE: |
29 NOVEMBER 2024 |
| PAYMENT DEADLINE: | 9 DECEMBER 2024 |
| HOW to APPLY: |
Admissions for 2025 SUMMER in PARIS | DRAWING STUDIO are OPEN. Before you apply, please review the ADMISSIONS page for general information about the application process. Desktop and laptop users can apply ONLINE.
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COURSE DESCRIPTION: “2025 Summer in Paris – Drawing Studio”
2025 Summer in Paris – Drawing Studio is a new curriculum in drawing available exclusively in this location, taught by visiting instructor David BAIRD.
Students will pursue a creative, practical curriculum in drawing the human figure in a studio environment 25 hours/week (5 hours daily), Monday to Friday.
Instructor will occasionally work alongside students and the studio culture will offer daily opportunities for individual as well as group discussion, and impromptu “work-in-progress” demonstrations.
DRAWING THE FIGURE
This 2-week program will focus on developing drawings from observation, with an emphasis on composition and tonal structure. Students will receive daily instruction while working from a live model. In addition to one on one critiques classes will also consist of lecture/demonstrations which will facilitate discussion of class topics such as light and form, shape-based observational drawing, and tonal structure.
Poses will vary in length from short, gestural drawings (20 minutes) to more sustained studies (multiple days). Various approaches to drawing will be discussed from thumbnail value studies emphasizing tone to more schematic renderings achieved through variety in line quality.
Individual critique will be given 5 days weekly, along with 1-2 lecture/demonstrations per week. The studio culture offers daily opportunities for individual as well as group discussion, and impromptu “work-in-progress” demonstrations.
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INSTRUCTOR
| David BAIRD | — Visiting Faculty Tutor in Painting and Drawing |
David Baird (b. 1986, USA) is an oil painter and draftsman focused primarily on contemporary figurative painting. In 2024 Mr Baird became a core faculty member at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Connecticut. He has taught private classes in the USA, Australia, and Europe, and has been visiting faculty at Studio Escalier since 2016.
Mr Baird has exhibited his work in New York, London, and elsewhere including: Beyond Description, a dual-site painting exhibition at Figure | Ground Gallery (Seattle, WA) and Sugarlift (NYC); Memento Vivere (2021), the inaugural exhibition celebrating the reopening of the historic Lyme Academy of Fine Arts; and the 2022 New York Figurative Show at the Salmagundi Club (NYC), where he took first prize, and was invited to exhibit in the first ever Hartley Invitational at the same institution.
His latest work is featured alongside some of the most prominent figurative artists working today in Realism Now at MEAM in Barcelona, Spain.
David Baird has traveled and studied widely, attending the Ryder Studio School (Santa Fe, NM), the Janus Collaborative School of Art (NYC), Studio Escalier (Paris), and the Jerusalem Studio School, where he was awarded the Avigdor Arikha Masterclass Scholarship in 2019 to continue his studies in Italy.
The artist is represented by Tregony Gallery in London, and currently lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama.
| Anika SCHMIDT | — Assistant Faculty Tutor in Painting and Drawing |
Anika Schmidt (b. 1991, Germany)
