Anna Neis, an artist and educator, is on a mission to revive classical traditions of teaching art and help young artists pursue their passions for art in college and beyond.
As a figurative artist who is interested in artwork of the Renaissance period and classical Greek styles of art, Neis hopes to inspire others through teaching drawing and painting with a traditional, classical approach.
This August Neis will be teaching two portfolio prep classes at the Arts Council of Princeton. Neis will provide students with the necessary steps to creating an art portfolio in Portfolio Prep, and the class will include group discussion and specific guidance for individual students. The class will be held at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts on Mondays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. from August 8 to 29.
In her class Portfolio Prep: Anatomical Drawing, Neis will help students gain an understanding of body structure, movement, and functionality through observation of live models and working with different materials. The class will take place at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts on Tuesdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. from August 9-30. Both classes are limited to 10 students ages 15 to 18.
Neis will also teach Landscape Painting and Pastel Portraits: Learning from the Masters at Morven. Landscape Painting, taking place at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts as well, will focus on the basics of landscape composition on Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon from August 8 to 29. Pastel Portraits will provide the techniques used by master portrait artists throughout history and from the Renaissance period, and will take place at the Morven on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon from August 3 to 24. Both classes are limited to 10 students ages 16 and up.
Artists can register for classes at www.artscouncilofprinceton.org. Portfolio Prep costs $110 for members of the Arts Council of Princeton, and $135 for non-members. Anatomical Drawing costs $135 for members and $160 for non-members. Landscape Painting costs $95 for members and $120 for non-members. Pastel Portraits costs $105 for members and $130 for non-members.
Neis, originally from Washington D.C., said she had always had a passion for art since she was little, and was inspired at a young age by the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. to learn more about art history and painting. “I enjoyed it very much when I was little, it was something I always asked my parents to do. That was my passion from the beginning,” Neis said. When Neis was just 12 years old, she began formal training in drawing and painting and continued into high school.
She and her family moved to New York City and she went to the School of Visual Arts for college and received her Master’s of Fine Arts degree from New York Art Academy. Neis moved to Princeton later because she didn’t want her daughter to go to school in the city, and has lived in Princeton for about 25 years. Her daughter, now 28 and living in Chicago, did not follow Neis’ footsteps to being an artist.
Neis has more than 20 years of art teaching experience, and last year she received the Teacher of the Year Award from the Arts Council of Princeton. While teaching at the Arts Council of Princeton, Neis also runs the nonprofit Gemma Art Foundation, which she founded in 2006 to encourage artists and provide them with the skills they need to take their art careers further. “I really enjoy teaching and I like helping the community, and it works well with my foundation to be connected to the Arts Council,” Neis said.
The foundation was given the name Gemma, Neis explained, to reflect the meaning of a gem or kernel from which a new life begins. The foundation’s offers a merit-based college preparation program, which provides young artists with workshops that challenge their abilities to paint and draw. The college preparation program by the foundation includes Artist’s Fellowships and Scholarships for Art Students. Neis said that competition among artists is very tough, so the foundation aims to aid and train young artists and provide them with the skills they need to rise above their competition.
Neis said that many students decide they want to major in art during their junior year of high school, and at that point they may not have the skills required for portfolios for art colleges and may need to take a gap year. Her goal is to teach them these skills and help them put together a portfolio that will get students into high end art schools such as Rhode Island School of Design and Carnegie Mellon University.
“I am an artist and along the way I have come about many different situations where it wasn’t quite clear what to do on the next step,” Neis said.
Some of the courses offered by the foundation include Short Pose Sketching, Portrait Drawing, Still Life Drawing, Figure Drawing, Composition Painting and Drawing, and Still Life Painting.
Neis said that she keeps classical traditions alive by teaching classes that focus on the figure, which requires a very particular step-by-step understanding of the principles of creating classical art. Students of the foundation also take an annual trip to Florence, Italy, to attend lectures on the history and origins of classical art.
Neis holds some of her lessons at her own studio on Bayard Lane, but mostly tries to use different studios on Nassau Street and around Princeton. Since 2006, the foundation has grown from about 15 students to 100, and Neis hopes to find a space larger than her own studio to teach her classes. By teaching her students in a traditional and classical way, Neis aspires to help young artists develop strong skills and portfolios.
“I felt that there was a need for a more classical approach to teaching painting and drawing, and that classical foundation gives artists strength,” Neis said.
In August figurative artist Anna Neis will teach classes at the Arts Council of Princeton on Portfolio Prep, Landscape Painting, and Pastel Portraits.,
