The GCA is honored to announce the twelve finalists who will compete in its first Annual Classical Figure Sculpture Competition.
Kate Brockman
Jiwoong Cheh
Susie Chism
Casey Eskridge
Philippe Faraute
Brian Kramer
Steven Lord
Julia Levitina McGeehan
Virgil Oertle
Amelia Rowcroft
Chris Waddell
Rick Weaver
(Read their biographies below.)
These twelve artists have been selected on the basis of their modeling ability and demonstrated aspiration to make beautiful, excellent classical sculpture. They will participate in a 40-hour concours modeling a half-size figure from life. A model will pose accordingly for eight hours a day.
Public Viewings: The competition room will be open Monday June 2nd & Wednesday June 4th from 6-7pm for a public viewing and informal dialogue with the finalists.
Awards Ceremony and Reception: The event will culminate with the awards ceremony and reception on Friday led by our esteemed Panel of Judges: Jacob Collins, Stephen Perkins, and Anthony Visco. They will award 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.
Location: All events will be held at the GCA Sculpture Studio at 20 West 44th Street in Manhattan at the Institute for Classical Architecture & Classical America.
When: Monday, June 2 until Friday, June 6, 2008. Call 212-730-9025 or email grandcentralacademy@gmail.com to RSVP for either the public viewing or the awards ceremony. Public welcome!
Who Are The Finalists?
Kate Brockman has been a dedicated figure sculptor in the Philadelphia area for the past seventeen years. She studied sculpture and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and is grateful to have discovered a passion there, that has lead her to a fulfilling career in figurative sculpture. Kate not only sculpts, but casts all her own work in bronze, in her foundry in Philadelphia. She has enjoyed many solo shows in area galleries and museums, and is currently teaching the figure at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Jiwoong Cheh I was born in Korea and pursued my own sculpture ambitions there including the founding of a figurative drawing and sculpture institute. Six years ago I came to America and studied for two years and received my masters degree at New York Academy of Art. Since then, I have been the head sculptor at StudioEIS, a prestigious figure studio and been working extensively on my own sculpture as well. I live in Brooklyn with my wife and two daughters.
Sue Chism has a BFA in sculpture from the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts where she had studied with and worked for the accomplished sculptors Don and Sharon Gale. She has won the National Sculpture Society's annual figure sculpting competition (The Walter and Michael Lantz Prize) and been selected twice for their annual awards exhibition. Currently she teaches portrait and figure sculpture and sculptural anatomy at the Lyme Art Association. She has received numerous commissions and her work appears in private collections throughout New England.
Casey Eskridge (bio coming soon…)
Philippe Faraute Originally from the French Alps Philippe Faraut attended Germain Sommeillier in Annecy where he studied wood sculpting, design and construction of fine furniture specializing in the French classic style. Since 1992 he has taught portrait seminars throughout the US, Canada and Europe and has published these techniques in a series of videos and books. Faraut has translated his knowledge of the face into monumental carvings in marble and limestone and has received various awards from the New York Society of Portrait Artists, Viselaya, The National Sculpture Society and the Art Renewal Center.
Brian Kramer values the common attributes of sculpture, painting and architecture in the classical tradition. He currently works in the office of Grenfell Architecture, in Washington, DC, a firm that shares this desire to restore the traditional unity among these sister arts. Previously, he taught sculpture and painting out of his private studio. Brian studied with Michael Aviano, and holds a Master of Fine Art degree in sculpture from the New York Academy of Art, and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Steven Lord has been a professional sculptor for over 15 years. He attended California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. He then apprenticed with artists Martine Vaugel and Dennis Anderson. After traveling through Europe he returned to Philadelphia to set up a studio where he worked for a few years until settling in New York City where he continues to sculpt.
Julia Levitina McGeehan was born in Odessa, USSR, in 1981 and immigrated to the United States in 1995. She has studied at the Sorbonne, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and under the tutelage of the Philadelphia sculptor Stuart Feldman. McGeehan is a recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Mary Butler Trust Award from the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Elizabeth Gordon Chandler Award from the National Sculpture Society. Exhibitions of her work include Artists’ House gallery in Philadelphia and Riverbank Arts gallery in New Jersey. She currently resides in Philadelphia, PA, where she is a professional sculptor, moldmaker and bronze caster.
Virgil Oertle Apprenticed to my father at the age of thirteen my first sculpture tool was a chainsaw. My love for sculpture has continued even though my medium and tools have changed. Currently I am pursuing a masters degree in Philadelphia and will graduate in 2008.
Amelia Rowcroft I am a professional freelance sculptor from London,England. I have worked in the British Film Industry for the past 10 years. I have also created many portraits and figurative pieces for a well-known International wax-work museum chain, and for a number of successful artists. I graduated from Wimbledon School of Art in 1998, and from The Florence Academy in 2004. I won 1st prize in The ARC Salon Scholarship Competition 2003.
Chris Waddell was born in Utah and raised on a farm in Idaho. He studied art in the west and is currently finishing his MFA at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Chris resides near Philadelphia with his wife Annalee and three boys Noah, Ben and Henry.
Rick Weaver received his formal art training in the field of drawing and painting from Ted Seth Jacobs, Harvey Dinnerstein, Ron Sherr, and Robert Beverly Hale, among others, at various studio schools in New York. His approach to the craft of sculpture was formed by the lessons learned about the figure in the classes of these artists, as well as by reading about the techniques of figurative sculptors in the 19th century. His art education proper was completed in graduate school at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, where he benefited from the theoretical insights of several abstract sculptors, including Billy Lee and Pat Wasserboehr. Rick's most recent awards for sculpture have included the Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellowship (2005), the Bader Fund (2005), the George Sugarman Foundation Grant (2005), and he was a finalist for the Peer Gynt Konkurransen in Oslo, Norway (2007).
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