In 1955, under the auspices of the Museum of Modern Art's education department, its director, Victor D'Amico, brought summer art classes to the East End, first at Ashawagh Hall in Springs and subsequently on a Navy barge towed from Jersey City to Napeague Harbor.
Overlooking the harbor and the surrounding meadows, the D'Amico Institute of Art's mission of making art education accessible to all has, like the barge itself, withstood the forces that have changed so much of the East End.
This summer's classes will begin at the Art Barge on Monday morning at 9 with Studio Process, taught by Bill Nagle. The three-hour Studio Process classes, which are held in a group setting, provide individual instruction to artists at all levels of experience. Instructors aim to develop each student's power of expression in relation to his or her individuality. Artists can use any medium.
Studio Process classes will continue weekdays from 9 till noon through Sept. 25, with a different instructor each week. Other teachers include Jennifer Cross, Michael Rosch, Christopher Kohan, and Sue Gussow.
Additional classes will begin on June 12, including Orientation for Newcomers, which is recommended as a preliminary for participation in any other course. The class introduces the elementary processes and techniques of artistic expression through exercises in drawing, painting, or collage. Easels, painting tables, and all materials will be provided.
Collage, with Bill Nagle, and Glass Fusing, led by Teresa Lawyer, will also begin on June 12, and, like Orientation, take place Monday through Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. The collage class will explore the 2-D application of papers and other materials to a flat surface, using a variety of paper sources, gluing mediums, and mounting surfaces.
In the glass-fusing class, students will work with colored sheet glass, powder, frit, and stringers to create a wide range of glass-fused and slump-molded pieces. Glass and tools will be provided; no experience with glass art is required.
Other weeklong classes, starting June 19, include encaustic, painting on location, watercolor, jewelry, pastel, collage, box art and assemblage, ceramics, drawing, dry-point printmaking, image transfer, and stained glass.
Most weeklong classes are $300, with a few priced at $375. A complete schedule of classes and instructors is on the D'Amico Institute of Art website.
