Joseph Peller’s studio classes and summer cityscape class concentrate on capturing the color of light and life in compositions, and on nurturing the student’s individual point of view with a sense of confident awareness and expression. Through individual assistance and group demonstrations, Mr. Peller develops a student’s technique and vision to solve the problems of working from life, using the live model as a point of departure. While oil painting approaches are emphasized, students are welcome to use any medium they choose to explore the fundamentals of color and tone. Aspects of drawing, composition, and paint handling will receive special attention. Students will be encouraged to develop their own ideas outside of class, to inform their vision with craft, and to take advantage of their own artistic temperaments. Historical precedents and artists will be referenced wherever and whenever possible.

Mr. Peller’s paintings, works on paper, and sculptures explore the haunting notions of isolation and ambivalence, evident in individuals caught in the unnoticed rituals of modern life. He enjoys experimenting with a wide range of pure and mixed techniques, including oil, pastel, various printmaking procedures, drawing and sculpture.

The artist has been honored with solo exhibitions in New York and Toronto, and has participated in group exhibitions in the United States, Canada and Europe. Mr. Peller’s work has received recognition in national exhibitions, and has been mentioned in The New York Times, Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, and American Artist magazine. He is the recipient of the Alden Bryan Memorial Award, the Dr. David Soloway Memorial Award, and the National Sculpture Society Award.

Mr. Peller traces his artistic lineage to the distinguished American painters, Charles W. Hawthorne and George Bellows, who were the teachers of his mentor, Canadian artist, A. K. Scott. During formal study at the School of Architecture at the University of Toronto, he worked with Canadian painters, Kenneth Forbes and Cleve Horne. His development continued in New York with noted artists, Thomas Fogarty and Hilary Holmes, at the Art Students League of New York, and with Ron Sherr at the National Academy of Design.  In 1985, he received a Revson Foundation Grant from the Art Students League.

 Mr. Peller’s work, represented by ACA Galleries in New York and by Roberts Gallery in Toronto, can be found in public, corporate and private collections in the United States, Canada and Europe.  Mr. Peller works out of his Brooklyn Navy Yard studio on the East River waterfront of New York.

Additional images of the artist’s work, and his biography, may be viewed on his website: www.josephpeller.com.