SPRING CLASSES begin JANUARY 23rd 2012

Welcoming back - BEN LONG! Ben will be here for the 12 week Spring Semester at the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas, the school which he founded to teach Portrait Painting. We welcome the advanced Artist to join Ben along with other Master's Apprentice students from the Fine Arts League to share in the wisdom of a living Master. For more information on the Spring courses being offered at the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas, please visit our website at: www.FineArtsLeague.org or telephone: (828) 252-5050.

The Fine Arts League of the Carolinas is a small and very unique school dedicated to teaching in the style of the 'old masters'. We draw and paint from life. If you choose to become a full time Student, enrolling in our Master's Apprentice course - you will learn everything from mixing your own pigments, stretching your canvas, fundamental drawing, painting people and landscapes to staging and having your own gallery show.

One of our students, Renee Whisnant will have her Opening this coming Thursday, January 19th from 5 pm until 8 pm at the Fine Arts League Gallery in the Historic Grove Arcade in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. We welcome you to attend.

Featured Artist of the Week - John Dempsey

  JOHN R. DEMPSEY

John R. Dempsey was born 1975 in Charleston, South Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and the Florence Academy of Art. He has been an apprentice to Ben Long since 2002. His specialty is portraiture, but he also works in landscape and figures. He teaches portraiture and cast drawing at the Fine Arts League.

“Drawing is the key element of great painting. The ability to describe the nuances of form with a simple tool such as a piece of charcoal prepares the painter for the problems which arise when attempting to display the subtle beauty of nature. Accurate demonstration of nature’s beauty is the hallmark of a great work.”  JRD

Come join John for a class this fall at The Fine Arts League of the Carolinas in Asheville, North Carolina.

You may read more about John Dempsey and the other Fine Art Instructors by linking to our website at: www.FineArtsLeague.Org or telephone our office at (828) 252-5050, Eastern Standard Time in the U.S.

We are the only school in the United States who teaches the art of Fresco!

John Mac Kah this weeks featured Artist from The Fine Arts League of the Carolinas

John Mac Kah

John Mac Kah is graduate of Ringling College of Art & Design and a rare native of Florida. His interest in drawing began when he was very young and he studied independently with professional artists as early as high school. He has been teaching since 1984 and since 1996, here in Asheville from his studio in the River Arts District. His paintings begin in the field on locations throughout the Southeast. His work can found in private and public collections in California, New York, London and throughout the southeast.

Of his work, he says: “Realist painting is about engaging with landscape, about creating context for our experience. It is to some degree a celebration of those places that survive in a wild state, at the edge just beyond the periphery of vision. I want to bring Nature back into focus, pay it deep attention, and ask the viewer to become more aware that we are losing so much, so fast. The skill is to translate these powerful visual moments with these very real and earthy materials — pigment, oil, canvas, wood, and hair — and create a link between artist, audience and Nature.

Visit John Mac Kah's web site: http://www.jmkah.com/ John's work is also available at the Fine Arts League Gallery located in the Historic Grove Arcade in Asheville, North Carolina

Mark Henry from the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas

Mark Henry from the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas will be exhibiting painting reflecting Moments of Stillness at 16 Patton Fine Arts Gallery, Asheville, North Carolina. Exhibit opens Friday, July 8 from 5 - 8 pm and runs through Sunday, August 7th. Exhibit includes oil paintings, charcoal and pastel drawings on paper. Style: "Modern Classical Realism Interpreted". We hope you will join us for this amazing art exhibit as studied by the 'old masters' - in Europe.

Mark Henry

Biography

Born in Merced, California, Mark traveled extensively with his military family. In his youth he lived in all but a few of the United States and spent his teenage years in Okinawa. After attending Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL, the artist became a private student and assistant to Mr. Leslie Posey, a nationally acclaimed sculptor and ornamentalist. During the late 1970s Mark studied design in nature and the human form, ornamental architecture, casting and mold-making using the traditional methods.

In the early 1980s he worked and studied under Ted Nightwine, the chief conservator of the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, learning framework restoration. A twist of fate led him to Hagenbeck/Wallace Inc., the company that designs and builds props for the Ringling Brothers Circus and Disney Ice Shows. He held the position of Associate Designer.

Over the next few years, Mark divided his time between the Ringling Museum as a frame conservator and Hagenbeck/Wallace while continuing to pursue his passion - Florida and North Carolina landscape painting. The artist’s dedication to the vanishing natural vistas of these unique areas is clearly evident in each of his works. The mountains have lured the artist by way of their power and beauty, and the Henrys now live in Weaverville, NC.

Along with his love of painting, Mark also teaches several times a year at various schools and workshops, and is presently designing and crafting his own frames for his paintings.

Mark’s work in pastel and oil is represented in galleries in North Carolina and Georgia as well as numerous private collections in the United States and abroad.