What to expect from the Intensive Program Summer Session.

Duration

• A single sustained seven-week session runs from June 18th to August 5th, 2023.

Ethos

• The discipline of working outside from direct perceptual observation guides the instruction. Students will learn about the outdoor environment, the nature of seeing, and their mutual impact on the formation of a painting.

  • Students also complement this pursuit with work that explores the continuum between abstraction, representation, invention, and the study of masterworks.

Students and faculty

• We seek two types of students for the Intensive Program.

  • Students with a special obsession for painting outside on-site.

  • Students who see painting outside as a healthy component of their overall art-making which may also include still life, figure, abstraction, sculpture, and other modes. For these students, this summer program is a special opportunity to focus on connecting with nature.

• Intensive Program faculty reflect this balance with artists who are interested in working from nature as a dominant focus of their lifelong work, and those who sincerely see painting outside on-site as a vital formative experience or an important recurring component of their overall work.

Painting Class

• Focused on working at locations such as the natural setting of Mount Gretna's neighborhoods and streets, forests and parks, lakes and streams, accessible regional land preserves, and other places in the surrounding area.

• Meet your instructor(s) in the morning and head out to various on-site painting destinations in the area. With your box lunch in hand, you may stay out and paint all day or return to work independently in the studio.

• Most of the painting will be done outside or, in the case of rain, in covered locations or the studio (a large welcoming Mount Gretna cottage porch is often an option).

• Courses are team-taught by a rotation of faculty in 1 to 3-week stays sometimes overlapping and/or back-to-back.

• Plenty of individual guidance and critique.

Drawing Class

• Drawing classes complement the landscape component of the program and are held in the studio or outside in the landscape.

• These classes focus heavily on the use of figure models and meet in the afternoon or evening two or three times per week.

• Courses are team-taught by a rotation of faculty in 2 or 3-week stays sometimes overlapping and/or back to back.

Studio*

• A shared independent work space, rainy day studio, figure drawing classroom and critique space.

  • This space is available if you need a break from the outdoors from time to time in order to focus on the still life, synthetic paintings, or the model as a complement to the landscape painting focus of the program. Faculty will be available to assist students who make independent use of this option.

• A limited number of private studios are available to studio seminar students.

  • The program can be modified to accommodate the more independent needs of seminar level students in a way that is stylized after graduate school with rotating visits from critics, and participation in group critiques. Seminar students are expected to take on a leadership role in critiques with the core students and in other aspects of the program.

Lecture Series

• Hosted weekly by The Pennsylvania Chautauqua in the historic Hall of Philosophy. Additional artist talk dinner nights happen regularly in more intimate settings.

Museum Trips

• Art Museum and Gallery Day Trips to Metropolitan Areas such as:

  • New York

  • Philadelphia

Area

• Mount Gretna is an enthusiastic and supportive community of artists and art lovers.

  • MtGretna.com

  • Mt Gretna Arts Council

• theatre, music, and cultural activities

  • Gretna Music

  • Gretna Theatre

  • Mount Gretna Historical Society

  • Pennsylvania Chautauqua Summer Programs

• restaurants, bars, and cafes

• some of the nation's most prolific fresh food and farmers’ markets

• a lake and beach, putt-putt golf, and roller skating

• wooded setting with nearby hiking

  • Park at Governor Dick

• day trip access to major metropolitan areas

  • 2.5 hours from NY City, 1.5 hours from Philadelphia, 1.75 hours from Baltimore, 2.5 hours to DC.

• nearby small cities with active urban centers of Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon, and Reading.

Some of these area features are paid admission not provided by MGSoA.  Web links to area entities are simply provided for the convenience of site visitors and do not imply endorsement. 

Applicants

• Ages 18+ by the program start time.

• Art Majors looking for a summer boost in learning.

• Art Minors looking for an enviable period of focused study.

• Recent graduates looking to boost their portfolio for graduate school.

• Non-art majors with a vested independent interest in art.

• Post Baccalaureate and Graduate students.

• Anyone else with a personal commitment to accelerated learning as part of an immersive program structure.

Competitive Entry

• Connecting a broad mix of artists, students, and faculty from across the country is important (including international students). To date, MGSoA has attracted students from California, Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington DC, Virginia and North Carolina, and more. It’s a great chance to connect with artists from diverse demographics and build lasting relationships.

• We accept about 20-24 students in any given year depending on the number of beds available.