I need you to see this
- Brian 'Bunny' Batista
- Apr 23
- 6 min read
In this Clean Slate Newsletter:
Report on St. Louis trip & What coming up - spring into summer
Quick look at the month ahead:
+ check out the NEW course listings at the bottom of this post
summer closure starts Canada Day
WEEKLY DROP IN SESSIONS:
Reppin’ Calgary, Alberta
As many of you know, during the Spring/Easter break I ventured out to attend the inaugural Figurative Symposium hosted by Shane Wolf (@shane.wolf.artist) of the figure society https://www.thefiguresociety.com/ (@thefiguresociety) in St. Louis Missouri.
My aim is always to improve what we do here at the Atelier, to learn more by working amongst like minded artist from around North America and to see how others are navigating this specific artistic niche. I had an added side quest on my adventure, more on that below.
At the event, there were many discussions with the group about going forward as figurative artists in the industry and in our current times with the double edged sword of social media, “Naked” vs. “Nude”, online presence, censorship, community standards as well as the ever evolving conversation about A.I. and how it affects our craft. The models at the event were renowned performers from the show word of Vegas, like @whirledman a a past performer of Cirque du Soleil.
There were six artists featured at the event and some world class models. I’ve had the pleasure our studying directly with Shane Wolf at the Paris Academy of Art, and Robert Liberace at Whidbey Island and it was great to touch base with both of them again. I spent about two days within arms reach of Oliver Sin, watching like a hawk to learn and getting direct feedback, he’s a great educator overall. I picked up a signed copy of his second book and an original artwork which you can view at the studio.
In additional there were three notable sculptors featured at the event. Seeing sculptors work from live model was insightful, though my first BFA is in sculpture, during my degree I had very limited experience working form a live model. I connected with Brian Booth Craig (@brianboothcraigsculptor) the sculptor and enjoyed watching their process, these hard working hands on folk are the salt of the earth but maybe I’m biased.
*The most interesting thing I learned while away is about others experiences and situations. When I told them about the Atelier Artista here in Calgary, it began to become apparent what a creative bubble we are in, how lucky we are to have such a place, great equipment and space.
We have dedicated artists coming together from all walks of life, we have music playing as we work and a list of as fantastic professional models collaborate with us and multiple times a week.
From Detroit to Texas the people I met said some places only have one day a week they can study bodies, if any at all. It must be the cold weather wand how we creatives need to stick together.
We are incredibly lucky in Calgary that we can actually nurture figurative arts. Not every place has the kind of opportunity. What we have built at Atelier Artista is unique and notable and that why I hope to make it even better in the upcoming year as we move into our 10th year in 2027!
So that brings me to my side quest.
Part of the reason I went in person was to establish a direct personal connection in order to bring them up to Calgary. I’ve always thought it important to bring more internationally recognized artists to Calgary in order to expose our community to a wider range of professionals recognized for their skills. I’ve been lucky to travel the world to study, but its definitely expensive and all consuming. I’ve always hoped there was enough of a market to bring them to us rather than have to travel abroad as thats not realistic for many.
I’m happy to report my side quest has been a success. I am currently in negotiations to bring up a few visiting Artists in the next year to our humble little spot in the world.
Currently we are confirming “Constructive Portrait Drawing Workshop with Oliver Sin from live models” September 18-20th, 2026. (some of his drawings in the gallery above) I hope you guys are as excited at this potential in the autumn and into next year to work with some of these great artists teachers in our own backyard. Let me know if you are to help me stoke the fire.
The weather in St. Louis was 28 degrees like summer, I actually got a tan from walking around in the sun. I picked up some Wolff’s carbon's at Blick's, visited galleries, saw a Bougereau painting, visited a free zoo, and the botanical garden before coming home. I unpacked and repacked again to to head to Banff to paint murals with the Maestro Doug Driediger of Metro Graphics for Pursuit at the Brewster Bus station in Banff. If you hit the mountains this summer I hope you stroll in to check them out.
What else is going on that you can be a part of:
Painting classes:
Bobbi Dunlop Master Class is this weekend:
NEW COURSES:
I’m incredibly excited to announce another of my favourite artists in the city will be offering a weekly course for the next two months. Kick your command of colours Tuesday afternoons 11-2pm with Elena Bushan and learn the secrets directly. Last year she was part of a floral course we offered. Since she can painting anything(including me), in any medium, this year you’ll be painting what you want with what you have under her guidance.
I know I have learned so much from Elena over the years, with the pleasure of working beside her on murals and in drop in sessions here, she is a hugely valuable resource if you want to vastly improve your artwork. I hoped an opportunity would present itself, a window opened up in her schedule to offer this opportunity not to miss and it’ll be on sale for May and June so get in while you can!
Yulia Tsinko is part of the DTYD team and started our Rise & Draw sessions on Mondays way back when I didn't think artists would get up that early on a Monday. Yulia is a real asset to the arts community and is back in Calgary for a short time taking a break from her studies at the Barcelona Academy. This is your chance to learn about light and shadow for figure from life in this one day workshop Saturday May 30th.
Grab up a spot and get the early bird special now until May 10th!
Draw ’Til You Drop May 8 - 10
(only a few spaces left)
The Atelier is a proud friend of DTYD event. Every year we lend equipment like all the drawing horses etc to help you have a better experience as a participant over the weekend. Since so many of you get great benefit from this intensive We hope you take advantage of all the creatives and models in one room for this intensive but we want to offer you even more.…
2 for 1 MARATHON SPECIAL
We want to challenge you and grow you further in your drawing Marathon by encouraging everybody to draw figure more so for May 8 & 11 it’s 2 for the price of one!
May 8, 9:30 - Noon instructed short pose - Get a game plan for the weekend ahead
May 11, 9:30 - noon - Longer poses marathon cool down, it should be easy at this point
CreativiTEA:
What is a CreativiTEA?
CreativiTEA is an in-person workshop series for grown-ups created by Tilted Windmills that combines fun, insightful art-making activities with community-building through creativity.
Each two-hour CreativiTEA session includes:
A guided creative activity with all art supplies provided. In this particular workshop, we will be using rollerball ink pens, paper, and reverse colouring pages.
Socializing and discussion with tea and delicious goodies—also provided
If you haven't had a chance to try out some art therapy, with one of our painting participants Athena Cooper and her partner. For $25 you you can enjoy some hot tea and delicious snacks to go with meditation and creative play. We have been presenting these new events one a month and this will be the last one they offer for a while.
It's not just naked bodies here, we love landscapes too, you might not know it by what we do in the studio. We play an active role Part of Canada Paints Plein air and we hope that those of you who paint out of doors join us this summer. We have info at the studio so you can use the QR code in the poster below as well.
Finally, you made it down here.... thanks for reading this newsletter.
We will be closing down the classes and drop in sessions this summer after Canada Day to take some much needed time to improve the space and create personal artwork while the weather is nice out. We will be hosting some residencies during that time so keep and eye out and let us know if you are interested in taking part.
Email: atelierartistayyc@gmail.com
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