Now I can reveal the big project that Mike Adams and I have been spending every available minute on this past couple of weeks.
A few months ago I began talking to friends like Alexey Steele, Mike Adams, Tony Pro and Peter Adams about the need for an academic and philosophical foundation for the revival of representational art, so I began working on what that would look like if my university was to get behind the project. Mike and I started talking to our colleagues there, sowing the seeds of the idea, then we began to put together a proposal with a budget, a structured timetable and researching a location for the event. Once we were well prepared we asked for a meeting with the CLU president Chris Kimball, who liked the project and gave us the underwriting we needed.
So it’s my great pleasure to announce that in October of 2012, in Ventura, California CLU is hosting The Representational Art Conference (TRAC2012), the first like it for a hundred years! I sincerely hope you’ll join us at the event.
There has been silence in the halls of academia regarding representational art in the new millennium. The success of the numerous ateliers now established in every major city in the United States indicates the depth of interest in representational art and traditional studio practices that has flourished without comment.
The Representational Art Conference, 2012, presented by California Lutheran University, offers three days of lively discussion in the delightful seaside city of Ventura, California, including keynote speakers, academic papers, panel discussions and exclusive demonstrations by prominent artists, bringing together thought leaders and practitioners who share an interest in the practice of the traditional studio techniques of sculpture, painting and drawing media in the 21st Century.
