Passport to Painting

In connection with our current exhibition Painting Is Its Own Country, the Gantt is pleased to offer, Passport to Painting, a four-week immersive art experience. The course is recommended for beginners and intermediate level community members ages 16 and up. Students will learn the ins and outs of painting with acrylics and create their own works of art led by Gantt Center teaching artist Bryan M. Wilson, MFA.

Following the introductory session (week 1) students will learn how to build their acrylic painting from the canvas up with conversation, lecture, and peer review built into each two-hour session.

• Week 1 - Introduction to acrylic paints, the class and the instructor. Connections with the history of painting and our current exhibit featuring contemporary black visual artists.
• Week 2 - Composition, Value, and Layers
• Week 3 - Proportions, Colors, and Refinement
• Week 4 - Symbolism, Layers, Reflection, Peer Critique and Community Showcase

Important note: Participants should bring their own art/paint aprons or cover-ups.

Bryan M. Wilson, MFA grew up between New Jersey and Georgia. It was in Georgia, at the age of 16, that he began his artistic career. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Studio Art with a Minor in Graphic Design from Morris Brown College. After graduating college, he became an in-house graphic designer for Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA. After a couple years, and getting married, he and his wife relocated to Charlotte, where he began teaching art at a public school and obtained his teaching credentials at University of North Carolina-Charlotte. It was in 2012 that Bryan decided to take his painting, and picture making, ability to another level by pursuing his MFA in Drawing/Painting at the Academy of Art University where he graduated in 2015. He is now exhibiting throughout the east coast alongside other distinguished artists. He is currently showing work at Foster’s Frame and Art in Huntersville, NC and Coffey and Thompson Gallery in Charlotte, NC.