Juliette Aristides is a Seattle based painter who seeks to understand and convey the human spirit through art. Juliette teaches workshops both nationally and internationally, and founded the Aristides Atelier online through Terracotta. Author of Classical Drawing Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice, Classical Painting Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice, Lessons in Classical Drawing and Lessons in Classical Painting, published by Watson-Guptill, NY. Aristides is the founder of the Classical Atelier at the Gage Academy of Fine Art in Seattle, WA and instructed there for over two decades. Vice President and Cofounder of the Da Vinci Initiative. Providing artistic training to public school educators nationally. Aristides frequently contributes to Artist & Illustrators and Artists Magazine. Her work has been featured in magazines such as Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector, American Artist and Gulf Connoisseur Magazine. She exhibits in one person and group shows nationally including a solo exhibition, “Observations” at the Reading Public Museum of Art in Reading, Pennsylvania (2014).

Joshua Langstaff has always been drawn to representational painting. “Abstraction has its value”, says Langstaff, “but to me painting is at its best when pictorial construction, in an abstract sense, is married with the magical illusion of naturalism. I think a sense of realism allows a deeper emotional response from the viewer, and that is what I am interested in.” Langstaff’s work ranges across traditional genres and themes. On one easel he might have a serene landscape while on another a chilling murder scene.

Langstaff studied traditional painting techniques with Juliette Aristides in her acclaimed Classical Atelier at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle. He has studied with other master representational painters including Anthony Ryder, Michael Grimaldi and Steven Assael. He was also a member of Jacob Collins’ Hudson River Fellowship for its first two years.

In 2009, Joshua was named one of “21 Under 31, Artists to Collect Now” by Southwest Art Magazine. His work has been featured in The Artist’s Magazine and in several art instructional books including: Lessons in Classical Drawing: Essential Techniques from Inside the Atelier by his former teacher Juliette Aristides.

JUSTIN WOOD (1982)   is a painter from Doylestown, Pennsylvania interested in traditional techniques and genres. At a young age, he began drawing frequently and was introduced to painting in high school. Justin attended Syracuse University where he studied illustration under respected illustrators Murray Tinkleman and John Thompson. While at Syracuse he took figure drawing with figurative artist Jerome Witkin. In this class, Justin became more familiar with the history of classical painting and the importance of drawing and painting from life. This experience redirected his focus to the fine arts. Upon graduating, he joined Jacob Collins at Grand Central Atelier in New York City where he studied full time for five years and served as Jacob's studio assistant. After completing his studies, Justin became an instructor of cast drawing and painting at the Grand Central Atelier. Justin currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children where he paints still lifes and animals.

Jonathan R. Hodge (b 1990) is a painter and teacher, born in New Orleans and raised in Covington. He earned his BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD), specializing in painting, drawing and art history. While at CCAD, he also studied under the head anatomist of a cadaver lab at a neighboring university where he learned anatomy first-hand and performed dissections. In 2014, Jonathan relocated to Seattle, WA to study classical painting and drawing with Juliette Aristides at the Gage Academy of Art. He has presented his artwork at the 7th International Conference on the Arts in Society in the U.K. and had his work featured in American Art Collector Magazine, Realism Today and the Art Renewal Center. Jonathan has exhibited work at the Haynes Galleries, the Maryhill Museum and the Figure|Ground Gallery in Seattle and has his work in numerous public and private collections including the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Aslan Foundation, The Columbus Club, and that of Bradley Sumrall, Rick Mekdessie, Harriet Rubin, and Carlos Madrid. Jonathan taught at the Georgetown Atelier at Gage Academy in Seattle and now teaches at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and at his private painting studio in Uptown. He is currently creating a body of work inspired by Southern themes.

Liz Beard works full-time painting and teaching in Queens NY. Her current interests include symbolic still-life and figurative works done in her studio from live models and studies made from observation. Her work is both autobiographical and an exploration of tradition, poetry, and beauty. Guided by the look of nature, she aims to convey what is most poignant in what she sees.

Born: July 19th, 1984, Buenos Aires Argentina

Education:

State University of New York at New Paltz

Grand Central Academy 

Patricia Watwood is an American figurative painter. Watwood’s paintings explore transformative narratives and mythological archetypes using the human figure. Her oil paintings show traditional methods and a technical rigor that balance perception and conceptual design. Her most common subject matter is the nude, particularly women, in images that convey the sacred feminine. Watwood has exhibited at galleries and institutions worldwide such as Hirschl & Adler and The Forbes Galleries in NYC, The New Britain Museum of American Art, The Butler Museum, and the Bruce Museum. Patricia served as the First Vice President of the Salmagundi Club, New York’s home for realism  founded in 1871, for three years.

Geoff Flack is a Colorado born artist currently working and living with his family in the Seattle area. He is the director of the Core Drawing Atelier at the Gage Academy of Art where he also teaches many drawing workshops and classes primarily focusing on the human figure. He holds an MFA in Drawing from the New York Academy of Art and a BA in Drawing from Colorado State University. Geoff's work has shown in exhibitions in New York and Seattle and has pieces in multiple private collections.

Marty Welsh completed her undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Dallas in 2013, after which she chose to continue her studies in painting at The Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. Upon graduating from the three year painting program in 2017 she accepted a teaching position at The Florence Academy of Art. The following year she taught as the co-director of the Ecorché Sculpture Program. She has taught private lessons and workshops in Italy, China, and the US.

Chelsea Bard (b. 1991) is an American Visual Artist, most known for her figurative work. A native New Englander, Bard obtained a BFA from the Hartford Art School in Connecticut before pursuing a foundation in painting and draftsmanship at the Grand Central Atelier in New York City. Trained in the methods and concepts sown in the Renaissance, she seeks to bring forth the tools and spirit of the tradition in resonant, authentic and vital ways. 

Bard’s widely acclaimed work hangs in collections throughout North America, Europe, United Kingdom, Australia and Japan including at the Stobart Foundation and The New Salem Museum and Academy of Fine Art. Chelsea now lives and maintains studios between New England and New York City. 

Breann Clifford was raised in Ridgefield, CT. She received a BFA in Communication Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts in Richmond, VA. After graduation, she worked as a graphic designer in tech before becoming a freelance designer and illustrator.

Breann left behind the corporate world to focus on her lifelong passion of the fine arts, turning to the atelier tradition of training in the way of the Old Masters. She attended the Aristides Atelier, a classical arts training program in Seattle. Her work includes a range of still lives, interiors, portraiture and landscape in a naturalistic style.

Breann currently resides in southern Pennsylvania. In addition to her formal education, her understanding of the visual is informed by her holistic spread of hands-on hobbies including sewing, gardening, raising backyard-chickens, building, home renovation, photography, cooking, hiking, camping, and more.

John is a classically-trained artist who lives and works in Seattle, Washington.  He works in oil as well as graphite, charcoal, and other dry media.
He has taught alongside Juliette Aristides at the Aristides Atelier in Seattle for a decade & is a graduate of the Atelier.

He serves as an instructor at the Gage Academy of Art since 2014 where he teaches classes in figure drawing, portrait drawing, perspective drawing, still life painting, and figure/portrait painting.

Before becoming an artist, John earned a doctorate in theoretical physics.  He taught physics as a graduate student at Princeton University and as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cambridge in England.

His training as a physicist gives him a deep understanding of the behavior of light as it interacts with many kinds of materials and surface textures.