| The Ashland Academy of Art | |
|---|---|
| Established | 2003 |
| Type | Private |
| Founder | Semyon Bilmes |
| Location | Ashland, Oregon, United States |
The Ashland Academy of Art was an art school located in Ashland, Oregon, United States. The Ashland Academy of Art was a classically based, independent school. The Academy's program was mainly based on the Russian Academic System. This system followed the artistic achievements of the Renaissance, developed and practiced by European academies until the end of 19th century.[1] [2]
The Ashland Academy's curriculum combined academic art education with the latest advancements in psychology of visual perception.[3] The Academy's drawing curriculum was rooted in the Construction Method. This analytical method emphasizes a sculptural approach to form, by studying comparative measurements, structure, planes, function, and perspective. [4] [5] [6]
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After the advancement of 20th century modernism, traditional art was rejected by European and American art schools. During this time, Soviet-Russian Art Academies built their program on the best features of classical European academies, adding a tremendous body of theoretical work, uniquely developed by Russian artists-teachers of eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, continued and expanded into the twentieth century.[7]
Preserving this unique academic system, Semyon Bilmes, founder of Ashland Academy of Art, brought this knowledge directly to his students. Semyon Founded the Bilmes Art School in 1990 in Medford, Oregon. In 2003, Semyon Bilmes founded The Ashland Academy of Art.[8] [9]
In 2004, the Ashland Academy was listed as one of Art Renewal Center Approved Ateliers.[10]
The school was located in the former Temple Emek Shalom synagogue. [11]
In late 2009, the Bilmes Family announced that the Ashland Academy of Art would close its doors in October 2010, with the faculty and some of the students relocating immediately to a then unspecified facility in Portland, Oregon, where the school's classes would continue, uninterrupted.
In February 2010, Semyon Bilmes announced that instead of moving to Portland, Oregon, he would relocate to Hawaii and take only ten students with him. According to the Ashland Academy of art website, "With a new name and a new location, Atelier Maui will bring superior classical European instruction in painting and drawing to a lush tropical paradise."