The CFA is a one year, three-semester, program designed to move from foundational studio training to independent, portfolio-driven work.

Students work across drawing, painting, and sculpture while developing an understanding of art history, theory, and professional practice. Each student is paired with a faculty advisor who provides guidance throughout the program. 

CFA – A502 | Anatomical Drawing 

The purpose of this course is to equip the student with a fundamental understanding of the anatomy, structure, and design of the human body. The students will be presented with historic principles of artistic anatomy which emphasize an accurate, geometric interpretation of the underlying skeletal structure of the body as well as a thorough examination of surface musculature in an effort to draw the figure with greater clarity, confidence, and accuracy.

3 credits

Core Learning Outcomes

• A number of completed life drawings and anatomical studies of the live figure model
• Understanding of various drafting strategies used to represent a structured human form from both historical and contemporary sources
• The ability to seek out the various anatomical structures of the human figure and incorporate them into their work with greater confidence and conviction, both observation and memory

CFA – D501 | Drawing I

This course begins the process of developing the student’s ability to represent the human figure in pictorial space, clearly situated on a perspective ground plane. Emphasis is placed on gaining an in-depth understanding of the body’s underlying geometry and anatomical structure. A conceptual model of the figure that addresses volume, movement, proportion, perspective and light, is developed by correlating students’ drawing from observation with master drawings and diagrams that present the body as a series of interlocking volumes governed by hierarchical principles. Students work from casts in the Academy’s collection to reinforce and enhance drawing comprehension and skills. Instruction will emphasize the integration of the lessons from cast drawing and life drawing. Students will engage in self-directed work to explore and extend the forms, techniques, content and possibilities of drawing. Regular critique sessions are designed to inform and provide positive support to this self-directed work.

3 credits

Core Learning Outcomes

• Improved accuracy of transposing visual phenomena to the page
• Accelerated abilities in observation, control and development in life drawing
• Enhanced understanding of strategy in drawing
• A personal focus, moving forward, for growth

CFA – P501 | Painting I

This course examines the language and techniques of direct painting from the figure, still life and plaster casts. Students will paint using a variety of strategies derived from current and historical practice. Direct painting has been the method of choice for figurative painting in the modern era, but other techniques are encountered in the history of western art, often as foundations or reference studies for more layered development. Theoretical approaches to tonal structure and color theory will be addressed in depth. While emphasis in this course is on analytical seeing/interpreting, self-directed work plays a significant role. By providing a classroom structure for the review of independent work, the course achieves a vital dialogue between the method of direct painting and the myriad intentions of the artist.

3 credits

Core Learning Outcomes

• Understanding of historical and current uses of direct painting
• Better control of values, edge handling, and color to create projection and recession through direct painting
• Understanding of color theory as it relates to the properties of oil pigments: Hue, Value, Chroma, and Temperature
• Ability to translate value to color
• Understanding of palette organization
• Understanding of how to work from bigger forms to smaller forms
• Understanding of Brush Handling
• Knowledge in creating successful compositions
• Knowledge of varied textures in work

CFA – S501 | Sculpture I

Through observation of the live model, drawings from classic texts, and demonstrations by the instructor, this course provides knowledge of linear and horizontal proportions, planar and mass relationships, axis lines, bony landmarks, overall human anatomy, surface treatment, patinas, and composition, as well as tools and techniques for sculpting the human form.  Taken together, this knowledge is intended to give students greater clarity when interpreting the human form in drawing, painting, and sculpture. Also, through a class museum trip, occasional exhibition assignments, and class discussion, the course is intended to shed some light on the historical contexts surrounding the students’ own bodies of work.

3 credits

Core Learning Outcomes

• Skills in sculpting—and, by extension, in drawing and painting—the human form, as well as understanding of what student’s would like to convey in their own bodies of work
• Essential knowledge of human proportions, anatomy, axis lines, planar and mass relationships, and composition, as well as of materials and techniques for manifesting 3-dimensional form
• Understanding of how the work addresses the history of ideas and human endeavor in art