Degree or Not Degree? That Isn't the Question About Fine Art Programs from Academy of Art at Founders College

Artists seeking traditional fine art instruction used to agonize, Hamlet-wise, over their choice of fine art schools, where the only options have been a BFA degree from a mixed-style college art program, or a classical, old-master type of studio program that offered no degree. Now Academy of Art at Founders College offers both options, full- or part-time, including short-term sessions and workshops. Art students can choose to follow the Bachelor of Fine Arts path, which will include courses from its integrated liberal arts curriculum, or the non-degree Atelier program, based on the training techniques of great 19th-century Academies.

South Boston, VA (PRWEB) August 8, 2007 -- The Hamletlike 'Degree or not degree?' question -- which has plagued fine artist students seeking classical training in drawing and oil painting techniques -- has a new answer from Academy of Art at Founders College: artists can now choose a degree path *or* a studio-intensive program at the same fine art school, both programs modelled on the great 19th-century Academic art schools.

Founders' Academy of Art is the first college program to offer the full, classical "atelier" training system. Other fine art schools that grant a BFA degree teach a mixture of styles and methods.

Art students can choose whether to have their fine art work build toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (BFA) (http://www.founderscollege.com/Curriculum/fineartprograms.html), taking additional liberal arts courses to qualify. Or they can concentrate exclusively on drawing and painting in the proven, step-by-step Atelier Program (http://www.founderscollege.com/Curriculum/fineartprograms.html), which teaches artists of every level to master the techniques of classical realism.

Artists of all levels of experience are welcome to start at any time. Part-time schedules and short-term intensives are available, and well as full-time and longer term programs. No portfolio is required to enter.

Watch the video for a demonstration of the teaching method and content. List to the podcast (http://prwebpodcast.com/releases/pod544168.htm) to hear about the Renaissance and 19th-century roots of this fine art instruction.

Fine Arts Programs (http://www.founderscollege.com/curriculum/finearts.html) offered by Academy of Art at Founders College include a full- and part-time Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program and a non-degree 'atelier' program, both studio-intensive options based on the classical approach to fine art as taught in Academies of the 19th century. These and other liberal arts programs, including Art History, are part of a special integrated curriculum of logically ordered courses that illustrate connections among ideas in each field.

Founders College (http://www.founderscollege.com/) at the Berry Hill Estate in South Boston, Virginia, is easily accessible from points north and south. It is within a one-hour drive of Raleigh-Durham and within a two-hour drive of Richmond, Va., and Greensboro, N.C.

Fine Arts Professor Cindy MacMillan is an award-winning contemporary realist painter and instructing professor at Academy of Art at Founders College. She is a recent graduate (MFA) of New York Academy of Art, and a past graduate of Academy of Realist Art (http://www.AcademyofRealistArt.com), where she studied old-master oil painting techniques and the step-by-step program that allows all artists to succeed.

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