Artist Spotlight: Raphael Sassi

Raphael Sassi, Maya Kang, 2012. Ball point pen and watercolor on paper. Image source.

Our Bemis School of Art has quite the summer session in store, featuring a variety of new courses and talented instructors that includes a series of drawing courses taught by visiting artist Raphael Sassi.

Sassi's courses cover all the basic and fundamental concepts of drawing and image-making while addressing the nature of light and form, capturing textures, and achieving the best results through utilizing  a variety of drawing tools. 

Raphael Sassi, James, 2013. Ballpoint pen, watercolor gouache on toned paper.
Image source.

Sassi was born in Pennsylvania and raised on the Eastern shore of Maryland where he earned his BFA in drawing from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA with honors from the New York Academy of Art. Sassi has exhibited numerous times in New York and Maryland. After receiving a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship for Drawing, he began teaching Anatomical Drawing for undergraduates at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

Since leaving New York, Sassi has been working with and tutoring adults and children across the country, most recently in Maryland at the Carla Massoni Gallery and The Maryland Institute of Art. He currently is residing in Colorado where he continues his artistic endeavors.

Raphael Sassi, The Transfer of Energy from One Object to Another,
ballpoint pen, gouache, and watercolor on toned paper. Image source.  

Below are the four drawing classes Sassi is teaching during the Bemis summer session:

A59 Fundamental Drawing
June 12 - July 17 | 6-9p | Register Online!

A 63 Life Drawing
June 13 - July 25 | 6-9p | Register Online!

A64 Ballpoint Pen Drawing
June 14 - July 19 | 1-4p | Register Online!

A65 Silverpoint 
Aug. 2 - Sept. 6 | 1-4p | Register Online!


Registration is currently open to FAC Members, and opens to the general pubic on May 13. Make sure to register before classes fill up!