Golden Gate Atelier

Golden Gate Atelier offers traditional drawing and traditional painting, including figure painting, landscape painting, and still-life painting. Students work from life using sight-size to draw and paint the human figure, and they also study constructive drawing, artistic anatomy, oil painting, still life, landscape, portraiture, figurative art, decorative design, and narrative painting. The program also includes Écorché sculpture, art history courses, humanities courses, and an online art and literature seminar.

• Schedule: 20 – 24 week course (Anatomy & Écorché)

The Golden Gate Atelier offers a complete classical training for the realist artist and challenges students to make meaningful images for our time while giving them the tools to do so. Every member of the faculty has gone through the same rigorous classical training that they teach. The atelier offers a full-time program with rigorous project work and daily mentorship and support, and students progress from foundations through to mastery at a pace optimized for them. Its visually based and practical Écorché sculpture course and visually based anatomy and Écorché program are described as one of the finest in the country. The oil painting program is dedicated to craftsmanship and the skillful use of materials and techniques, and students work in all genres, including still life, landscape, portraiture, and figurative art. The composition program includes both decorative design and narrative painting, and art history and humanities courses introduce the great paintings and ideas of the Western tradition. Every graduate produces a diploma painting that is a culmination of their time at the atelier, and Golden Gate Atelier graduates are well placed to succeed as professional artists. The Golden Gate Atelier is ARC Approved™ and offers a one of a kind experience for artists looking to master the craft of traditional drawing and painting. Andrew Ameral and Sean Forester lead a group to see the Sargent show at the Legion of Honor, and Sean Forester leads an online class on David McCullough’s book The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. A graduate, Tess-Marie White, states, “I studied figurative art for years, but never found what I was looking for until I discovered the program at Golden Gate Atelier.”

Last updated May 4, 2026.