An atelier is a private studio that is headed by one master artist who is thoroughly trained in the atelier tradition of drawing and painting, the classical tradition that goes back hundreds of years. The head artist of an atelier passes along to students a cohesive and comprehensive education that is the culmination of centuries of art studio practice, yet is thoroughly rooted in the concerns of the present age.
And so, the McEvoy Atelier starts right at the beginning of art education, and continues on to advanced subjects, offering you scores of hours of unified, comprehensive, and sequential education which is interwoven with rich art historical illustrations- all for just $14.99 a month, with the ability for cancellation at any time. Hours of new content are added each month, with new activities regularly posted. The unique structure of this curriculum is designed for hours and hours of activity off screen activity, minimizing on screen time, making sure that you stay anchored in the natural world.
Learn more about Kevin McEvoy:
Students also have the additional option to sign up for personal, online lessons, in which the student art work is addressed via digital drawing and painting program- a fantastic innovation that propels students forward. It is the closest thing to having an atelier instructor in your own home or studio. For minors, the McEvoy Atelier is able to offer pre-recorded lessons.
For years, Kevin McEvoy attended the oldest active atelier in Europe headed by Charles Cecil, an internationally recognized artist
who traces his own atelier training back to the masters of the French Academy, which in turn hails all the way back to the Renaissance. “If I see further, it’s because I stand on the shoulders of giants” is an adage repeated by great minds, through the centuries. The great artists of the ages were a product of such ateliers- Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, Mucha, Sargent, and the list goes on… While the greatest art education is certainly had in person at a private atelier, there has always been an extensive amount of information and aesthetic theory that lends itself to being learned through literature. Art education literature has played a central role in a rich and long tradition of atelier practice, spanning from Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Treatise on Painting”, to Charles Bargue’s plaster cast lithograph series, to R.B. Hale’s book “Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters.” We at the McEvoy Atelier Online endeavor to continue in this rich lineage.
What do you need to begin? A basic pencil, a simple piece of paper, and a diligence that is married to endless curiosity. For just $29.99 a month, you can have join us on a journey that is constantly expanding. Come, immerse yourself in an endlessly flowing river that begins in Ancient Greece, continues on to Florence and Rome, to Paris, London, Boston… and now continues on to your home or studio. Where will the river go, beyond you?
A gifted teacher and award winning artist, Kevin McEvoy has a unique, twin gifting in both creating art, and in communicating. “I suppose I come from a rich line of Irish storytellers” McEvoy laughs. He brings art to his students and meets them where they are, by illustrating his ideas with compelling art historical lessons and rich metaphors. Regardless of age or skill level, students are warmly welcomed into the world of drawing and painting.
To begin, let’s ask a simple question- what is an atelier? An atelier is not an art studio, nor a large, community art center, nor an educator who merely offers educational artist content. The word atelier means “workshop” in French, and for centuries it was the household word for a master artist’s studio that both produced art work, and provided education. Ateliers have historically provided the greatest educational offering to art students, because they are based on “do as I do”. After years of studying at one of the most prestigious ateliers in the world, Kevin returned to his native New York and began his career as a prolific, professional oil painter, and also opened his own, private atelier. Enjoying other people’s company, he was astonished at the momentum that the studio so quickly gained, and he soon had more students than he could teach. His studio eventually evolved into the largest of its kind on all Long Island, drawing artists and students from around the globe. Over twelve years, and while working with hundreds of students, Kevin honed his twin giftings- that of creating art, and of teaching art, and he became a notable and distinguished figure in the art education world.
Over the course of the years, Kevin took the unique methodology and teaching techniques of Europe, and incorporated them into his own teaching practices. Every lesson is suffused with not just technical ideas, but with art history. Students did remarkably well in this art lesson/art history environment, and his body of students thrived. An admirer of the polymaths of the Renaissance, Kevin is a firm believer of the interconnectedness of all disciplines- his teaching always points students towards seeing the connection between art, science, literature, music, and geometry. “The greatest joy I have is to see the light come on in a student’s eyes… when they finally understand that the light hitting the side of a child’s face is the same as water rushing against the side of a rock in a stream. With understanding, students come to connect the dots in the created world around them… they ignite their capacity for delight, embarking on a lifelong journey of curiosity.”
A bit more of the recent story:
“I ran my own atelier in New York for seven years, at which point my atelier was absorbed into a larger institution, which eventually came to have a divergent vision. I gradually came to identify that the highest educational offering was failing to reach my students. I became certain that there was a platform that was much better than the one I had already worked so hard to build. As life presented this series of challenging events, I eventually picked up my family, and decided to move back to Europe to ponder how I might offer the world something even better. My first planned stop was London, with my second and final stop being Italy. But it was while I was in London that the first tremors of the COVID pandemic began to reach Europe. I threw myself headlong into painting in London, and pondered my next move. I produced a large painting of my painting studio in London, depicting how I felt as a husband and father, with the difficulty of navigating this uncertain season of life. I was absolutely stumped. For the first time in a long time, I felt like a violinist with an empty auditorium, with nobody to hear the melodies that were coursing through my hands. As Italy shut down to visitors, as the globe contracted to a stop, I decided to move my family back to New York, and pondered the looming quarantine.
“As I looked out the window of the plane, and looked at the waves rolling in the Atlantic, I suddenly called to mind all of those who were made in deserts, in prisons, in pandemics. It was in the desert that Moses was stripped of his self dependence and learned that a measly shepherd’s staff in the service of God was mightier than a thousand chariots in the service of a Pharaoh; it was in a pandemic that Newton made great advances in early calculus; it was under house arrest and prison cells that Paul the apostle penned a number of the letters which constitute a majority of the New Testament; it was in a quarantine that Van Dyck painted several of his great masterpieces; it was in a prison that John Bunyan penned the beautiful stories of Pilgrim’s Progress; and it was in prison cell that Cervantes wrote the first part of Don Quixote.
“But as the world ground to a halt, what work would I put my hand to?
“No sooner was I in the door of my home on Long Island, than the phone rang. It was Camille, a dear friend and mother of a young student who I had taught for many years. Camille relayed to me that, after so many years of prayer and support, that she felt that God had placed a deep stirring on her heart, an urging, to encourage and assist me in placing the culmination of all my teaching experience on an online platform, along with several volumes of books. As she spoke, I recalled David’s words, thousands of years ago- ‘…deep calls to deep, in the roar of your waterfalls.’ The deepest things inside of me were stirred. Before I even returned from London, Camille had already created the website, the platforms… all I had to do was begin. And so it was- our website was born, the McEvoy Atelier of Drawing and Painting.”
The rest, as they say, is history. So, join us on our latest adventure at The McEvoy Atelier mostly online……
Kevin’s Education:
Charles Cecil Studios, Florence, Italy 2006 – 2009
Bachelors of Fine Arts, University of Stony Brook, New York 2006
La Scuola di Lorenzo d’ Medici, Florence, Italy 2005
La Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaiso, Chile 2004