Support our Artists and Programs
Today, the Grand Central Atelier is an independent, not-for-profit (501c3) atelier, with an international reputation for training artists in an aesthetic sensibility and method rooted in the Renaissance tradition.
Annually, over 500 students study in our studio in Queens, with over 50 in our highly selective four-year Core Program. The Core Program consistently produces the world’s most skilled contemporary realist painters, draftsmen and sculptors.
Grand Central Atelier (GCA) first sprang from a group of visionary artists who gathered in Jacob Collins’ studio in the 1990’s. Collectively, they worked out an aesthetic sensibility and method rooted in the Renaissance tradition. What began as a four person group in Collins’ Brooklyn studio has outgrown its housing four times now. To support our growing community of working artists, we have established a robust online Part Time program, and we sponsor artistic residencies for graduates, fellowships open to the public, exhibitions, and lectures.
GCA has quickly matured into an institution capable of considerable impact. Students now compete from across the world to partake in GCA’s evolving curriculum. It is a study and practice centered on rendering the way natural light illuminates the form of a single subject. The monastic quality to life as a GCA student is echoed by a refrain heard in our studios: to practice art this way is to learn how to truly see.
As we settle into our new studio in the Box Factory in Ridgewood, Queens, we also enter our next and most exciting institutional chapter. Will you join us on our journey?
Will you consider joining the unbroken 600 year old tradition of patronage to ensure that traditional fine art instruction remains available to aspiring artists?
Meet our 2021 Graduates! (click image to view video)
Listen to words from our 2021 graduates as they reflect on their four years of study in our Core Program. Meet Van Nguyen, Hemali Vadalia, Lucas Bononi & Paul Gabel. Click the image to the left to view!
Van and Hemali, who studying on M-1 international student visas are home in Vietnam and India respectively. Lucas is working in NYC and has started instructing at GCA. Paul has enrolled for a fifth year!
Watch these young artists closely as they build their careers!
Why I Support GCA
I am fascinated by observing the artistic process in young artists who are full of ambition, experimentation and passion for their work. To be able to offer scholarships to international students who can now come to the US and study at our premier school may be their dream come true. It is my privilege to help some of these students along financially and serve as a patron while they are here.
– David Boger (pictured on right along with John Britton, GCA Trustee)
Spotlight on Artist & Alum Anthony Baus (click image to read)
Anthony’s exquisite technique, mastery of architectural perspective as well as his boundless imagination have produced a series of drawings evoking wondrous urban landscapes that appear both real and dreamlike. While these drawings were made on location of landmark buildings Anthony has also infused his compositions with conceptual figures drawn from both antiquity as well as the fashions of the present. The many details of these drawings must be seen in person to be fully appreciated.
“When I’m drawing my aim is to be in a constant state of wonder” Anthony has said of his process. Seeing his art in person is an opportunity for all of us to share in that wonder.
-Interviewed by Michael Fetherston, alum
Anthony has recently moved from NYC back to his home state of Wisconsin with his family. We expect to see him back in NYC regularly showing his work and to teach.
The Best Four Years of my Life
As students, we learn through instruction but also through observing masters at work in their trade . . . the composing, framing, promoting and selling of their art. These and a host of other professional concerns are not traditionally taught in the academy or art school. At GCA, these lessons are an invaluable pragmatic skill set for today’s working artists.
– Ananda Fetherston, Alumni
UPDATE: As a talented ambassador and translator of GCA’s curriculum from the perspective of a student, Ananda has been hired to be GCA’s Director of Public Programs! She also teaches online classes.