In France, Are There Any Art Classes In English?
Q. We are interested in spending a month or two in France and would like information on art schools or studios that offer painting and ceramics courses in English. What time of year would be best?
A. The summer months offer the best opportunities for English-speakers to study art in Paris as well as in the provinces.
In Pont-Aven, the village on the Brittany coast where Gauguin painted, Caroline Boyle-Turner, an art historian at the Rhode Island School of Design, runs summer art courses for English-speaking students at the Pont-Aven School of Art. The classes - in painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, French and art history - have 6 to 12 students. A four-week session, from June 1 to June 28, is followed by a six-week session, from July 1 to Aug. 9. Courses are open to graduate and undergraduate fine-arts students; artists with little formal training are asked to submit slides of their work before admission. Fees range from $2,500 to $5,000, depending on the length of the session and the number of classes taken; charges include board, breakfast and dinner with local families. More information: (508) 263-1654 in the United States.
The school at Pont-Aven is also organizing a summer session with the American University of Paris. Classes, with a maximum of 12 students, are held in Pont-Aven from June 3 to 28, then continue in Paris from July 9 to Aug. 9. Students visit the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay and other museums. This course is open to fine-arts graduates and undergraduates; other applicants are asked to submit slides of their work. Course fees are $6,140 and include tuition, room and board while in Pont-Aven, and tuition in Paris.
The American University in Paris offers summer-session courses in painting, drawing, photography and art history. They run from June 3 to July 4 and from July 9 to Aug. 9; class size never exceeds 20. Fees, covering tuition only, start at $1,320. More information: in the United States, (212) 677-4870.
Q. My fiancee and I will be in Arizona in June. We understand that Wagner operas are being performed in the area then. Can you provide information?
A. In what the Arizona Opera company says will be the first of an annual series, Wagner’s complete “Ring des Nibelungen” will be performed twice in Flagstaff between June 3 and 15. Collaborating on the presentation will be Glynn Ross, general director, and Henry Holt, artistic director, who drew acclaim for their productions of the Ring at the Pacific Northwest Wagner Festival in Seattle from 1973 to 1983.
The four operas that make up the Ring - “Das Rheingold,” “Die Walkure,” “Siegfried” and “Gotterdammerung” - will be performed in sequence in two six-day periods, just as they are at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany. The operas will be sung in German, with English surtitles, at the Ardreyok Auditorium at Northern Arizona University. The hall seats 1,500, close in size to Bayreuth’s Festspielhaus.
While in the Flagstaff area, visitors can take the opportunity to see such sights as the Grand Canyon and the Painted Desert.
Information: Arizona Opera, 4600 North 12th Street, Phoenix, Ariz. 85014; (602) 266-7464, fax (602) 266-5806. Tickets for a Ring cycle: $100 to $525.
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