15 BYTES page 2, Kamille Corry, J.Davis Frames, Nathan Florence, Shawn Harris, Holly Pendergast

Kamille moved to Italy a few years later, searching for artistic training. She avoided the “study abroad” programs, where Italian art schools are filled with American students, because she wanted to immerse herself in Italian culture. By chance, she discovered Studio Cecil Graves, a small atelier, founded by American painters Charles Cecil and Daniel Graves. She was hesitant to enroll in the studio because the classes are taught in English. Then she met another painter, a friend of the professors at the atelier. “He would critique the drawings that I was doing, and he was a very harsh and thorough critic on my work. He strongly urged me to go to this atelier and study with Cecil and Graves because they were keeping the tradition alive of how the masters for hundreds of years learned techniques to draw and then to paint.”

Kamille says, “I rejected it [the training] at first because I thought it was too limiting or restrictive. Once I did it, it was exactly the opposite. I was really learning something.” It was exhilarating for Kamille to learn skills and keep learning them, getting better and seeing progression. She begins drawing and painting from nature. She says, “It opened up a whole new world and once I started studying… that was it. I had no desire to ever go back and slap paint on fabric or throw it at a canvas and call it art. I wanted to express myself using the human figure or nature because that’s what inspires me: a beautiful landscape, an expressive face or hands, the colors of rock in the Utah desert.”

Kamille Corry continued her training in Europe for about three years, at which time she came back to North Carolina to study with Jeffrey Mims, a classical realist painter she met at the atelier. The “atelier” experience became crucial to her training. The “atelier” or academy for traditional and classical methods of drawing and painting arose in the 19th century in France. At the time in Paris, students and teachers begin to rebel outside of the big art institutions and open up their own smaller studios, called ateliers, and develop a following. In the classic tradition, these studios would not even allow a student to touch a paintbrush for several years. The students of art drew from the vast collection of sculptures in Paris museums. A lot of the drawing training, like learning the notes on a piano, is universal. Every old master learns from a master before him and so on for hundreds of years. Until you copy an old master, the technique will not make sense. It’s like someone trying to become a musician. It’s possible to analyze a Beethoven but until you can play a Beethoven, it’s impossible to really understand. “ It’s a very valuable tool, to copy an old master.” Corry says.

Kamille Corry returned to Europe to extend her artistic training when she received the Elizabeth Greenshieds Foundation Grant. She went to London to study sculptures in the museums. Though painting remains her main medium, the influence of sculpture can be seen in her work. She says, “ I can still stand in front of a Michelangelo and get chills down my spine. Michelangelo’s sculptures move me.”

Corry eventually returned to Utah, where she has taught art lessons privately for the last ten years. Recently, Corry opened a new studio in downtown Salt Lake City, where she hopes to continue the classical training of artists she experienced in Europe. She is currently focusing on recruiting a handful of students completely dedicated to becoming figurative painters. She’s committed to students who are serious about learning to draw and paint the figure. Corry Studios will be offering intensive workshops starting in March 2003. The workshops will include figure drawing, figure painting, and portrait painting and drawing. Artists of all skill levels and backgrounds are welcome in the workshops.

Deirdre Contreras, one of Kamille’s students says, “ She’s probably one of the few artists who’s not only a great artist but also a very good teacher. She’s patient and she has a way of presenting to the student that pushes a person to work their hardest to produce their finest work.”

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Ms. Corry’s atelier will provide opportunities for other artists as well. On Monday evenings from 6:00 to 8:30 there is open figure drawing with experienced models. The cost is $7.00 per person. The first half hour is five-minute gesture poses and the last two hours are spent drawing a long, dynamic pose. The models repeat for one month.
For more information on workshops, training with Ms. Corry, and open figure drawing on Mondays at Corry Studios contact Kamille Corry at kcorry@xmission.com or phone her at 485-4309. Some additional recent works can be viewed at annlongfineart.com

For similar opportunities to work from live models, paint en plein air with other artists or travel abroad together visit the new page we are developing – art opportunities.