Byron Copland | "Ageing Still Life" (detail) oil on canvas, 2022      
Reisha Perlmutter | "Absorb", oil on canvas, 2016      
David Baird | "Satyre et bacchante, after James Pradier" | 2013 Autumn at the Louvre   
Aleah Chapin | "Aunties Project"     First Prize - BP Portrait Award 2012, National Gallery, London    
Jason Rafferty | "Analysis of the Felicity of the Regency, after Rubens" | 2012 Winter at the Louvre   
Krista Schoening | Parnassus Award | MFA 2014   University of Washington
Joshua Press | "Camden Town"    
Helena Vallee-Dallaire | "Ma Soeur" | 2013 Greenshields Foundation Grant   
Laura Nothern | "Hercules and Omphale (after Rubens)" | 2013 Winter at the Louvre
Toby Skinner | "MG3" | "Autoportrait 2014" | 2007-2008 Summer & Autumn Intensives
Marina Dieul | Before and After: 2008 and 2010 Autumn Intensives   
Will St. John | The 2011 Alma Shapiro Prize | 2006 Autumn Intensive   
Jethaniel Peterka | The Nautilus Studio | 2006 Summer Intensive, 2006 Autumn Intensive   
Ernesto Ortiz-Leyva | "50 Flag Raisings" | 2005 Summer Intensive, 2005 Autumn Intensive   
Ernesto Ortiz-Leyva | MFA, 2014 - New Artist Society Scholarship   School of the Art Institute of Chicago   
 ABOUT | STUDENTS

“Nobody doubts that we should have received the first lessons we needed in the study of painting from a clever man. The beautiful antique should be our second guide, and instruct us on the beautiful forms that it assembles. But anima and life are the first merit of a picture, we cannot hold onto them save by this divine fire which characterizes living nature. The coldness of the ancient marbles has passed into the veins of some of its worshippers. Only those who, by their ability to make a good choice, who have been able to add to it the feeling that only the truth inspires, have drawn some advantage from it.”

Discours sur le dessin de Donat Nonotte, ancien élève de François Lemoyne, 29 Nov 1754

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STUDIO ESCALIER has been privileged to enroll over 1200 studio seats in the last twenty years — including professional artists in many different fields, art teachers, artists switching careers, emerging talents, serious beginners, and people who simply love to draw and paint the human figure.

Students come to us from some of the most competitive art schools, universities, arts organizations, companies, and art studios in the world. And from the “middle of nowhere”, too.

 
Anyone may apply, there are no academic or artistic pre-requisites to apply as a student. It is an open admissions process, based mainly on portfolio submission – a review of artwork drawn or painted from life.

We normally ask to see just 2 examples of your best figure drawing or figure painting, or 2 of your best artworks from observation (‘best’ judged by your own standard).

Please do not make the mistake to think that you “have to get better” before you apply! We are here to teach, and to share the knowledge that we have. We do not expect you to already know what we know.

 

You must be at least 18 years old to enroll. There is no upper age limit.

The average student age in our Intensive Courses and Winter at the Louvre program is 27 years old.(Approximately two-thirds are age 18 to 29, one-third are age 30 to 65+.)

The average student age for our shorter drawing programs and various special programs is 36 years old. (Approximately one half are age 18 to 29, one half are age 30 to 65+.)

 
The average percentage of returning alumni enrolled in any course is 50%. But alumni students may be returning after a pause of any length: 2 weeks, 3 months, 7 months, a year, or longer.

Alumni must re-apply for re-entry.

 
Our best students seem to find us by word of mouth, so please tell your friends and colleagues about us.

Our student body has represented 45 different countries, more than 25 major cities worldwide, as well as 40 US states.

We receive artists from New York City to New Zealand, and all points in between: Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Seattle, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Los Angeles; Canada, Mexico, France, UK, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, UAE, India, Pakistan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia, and Australia.

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Some Schools and Arts Organizations Represented by our Student Body (2002-2018)

Academy of Art University (San Francisco)

ACES – Center for the Arts (New Haven, CT)

Agung Rai Museum of Art (Indonesia)

Alberta College of Art and Design (Calgary)

The American Repertory Theatre (Cambridge, MA)

Antioch College (Ohio)

Arizona State University

Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, CA)

The Art Students League of New York City

Atelier de Bresoles (Montreal)

Auburn University (Alabama)

AVU – Academy of Fine Arts (Prague, Czech Republic)

Michael John Angel Studio (Florence/Toronto)

Barnard College (NY)

BACAA (San Carlos, CA)

Boston University

BP Portrait Award 2005 Exhibition (London)

BP Portrait Award 2007 Exhibition (London)

BP Portrait Award 2012 Exhibition – First Prize (London)

Brandeis University (MA)

Brown University

California Art Institute (Los Angeles)

California College of the Arts (San Francisco)

California Lutheran University

Case Western Reserve University (Ohio)

Central School of Art (Adelaide, South Australia)

Charles Cecil Studio (Florence)

Chautauqua Institution (NY)

Circulo de Bellas Artes (Madrid)

Coláiste Dhúlaigh College (Ireland)

Columbia University (NY)

Concordia University (Montreal)

Cornell University (NY)

Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle)

Cyprus College of Art (Cyprus)

Dalhousie University (Nova Scotia)

DePauw University (Greencastle, Indiana)

Designskolen Kolding (Denmark)

ENSBA – Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts (Paris)

Ecole des Beaux Arts – Marseilles (France)

Edinburgh College of Art (UK)

Emerson College (Boston)

Fine Arts League of the Carolinas (Asheville, NC)

Florence Academy of Art (Italy)

Florida State University

Fritz-Gerber Foundation for Talented Youth (Zurich)

Gage Academy of Fine Art (Seattle)

Grand Central Academy of Art (NYC)

Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation (Quebec)

Daniel Greene Studio (North Salem, NY)

Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)

Heatherley’s School of Fine Art (London)

Institut Guegan – Arts Decoratifs (France)

Institut Saint-Luc – ESBA (Liege, Belgium)

Josef Albers Studio

Julian Ashton School of Art (Sydney, Australia)

Lack Atelier (Minneapolis)

LARA – London Atelier of Representational Art

David Leffel Studio (various)

Lyme Art Association (CT)

Maharaja Sayajirao University – Fine Arts (India)

Marie Curie University (Poland)

Maryland Institute College of Art

Massachusetts College of Art (Boston)

McMaster University (Canada)

Minneapolis College of Art + Design

Montreal School of Fine Arts

Moscow Pedagogical – School of Fine Arts (Russia)

Museu do Trabalho (Porto Alegre, Brazil)

National College of Art and Design (Dublin)

New England Realist Art Center (Boston)

The New School for Social Research (NYC)

New York University – Tisch School of the Arts

NYAA – Graduate School of Figurative Art (NYC)

Northumberland College (UK)

Ontario College of Art and Design

Oregon College of Art and Crafts

Oxford University – Christ Church College (UK)

Parsons School of Design (NY)

Penn State – College of Arts and Architecture (PA)

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Philadelphia)

Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY)

Princeton University

Pulchri Studio (Amsterdam)

Purdue University

Ringling School of Art and Design (Florida)

Rhode Island School of Design

Royal Society of Portrait Painters (UK)

Anthony Ryder Studio (Santa Fe, NM)

SACI- Florence

San Francisco Academy of Art University

San Francisco Art Institute

Savannah College of Art and Design (GA)

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

The School of the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston)

School of Visual Arts (NYC)

Seattle Academy of Fine Arts

Sewanee – University of the South

Nera Simi Studio (Florence)

John F. and Anna Lee Stacey Foundation

Southon Studio (New Zealand)

St. Edmund’s School (Canterbury, UK)

Stanford University (CA)

Studio Incamminati (Philadelphia)

Syracuse University (NY)

Ted Seth Jacobs Studio (France)

Universität Augsburg (Germany)

University of Arizona

COFA – University of New South Wales (Australia)

Université de Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne)

Université de Paris 7 (Diderot-Jussieu)

University of Nebraska (Lincoln)

University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)

University of Southern California

University of Texas

University of Wisconsin (Madison)

Vanderbilt University (TN)

Vermont Studio Center

Walt Disney Animation (Australia)

Woodstock School of Art (NY)

Yale University School of Art (CT)