Founded nearly 25 years ago by painter Daniel Graves, the Florence Academy has grown into one of the world’s preeminent ateliers by continuing to teach and advance classical realism. The school was overjoyed to recently announce the opening of its lavish new complex.
For the past 25 years, the Florence Academy has built itself into a top-tier atelier, but less could be said for their studio spaces, which became increasingly cramped as its classes continued to grow. As a result, students and studio spaces were dispersed in several buildings across Florence, hindering effective collaboration and critique — key cogs for a successful studio program.
The narrative has made a change as of Saturday, October 29, when the doors of the academy’s stunning new 35,000-square-foot complex were officially opened. Importantly, all of the academy’s studios are now under one roof. Further, many of the studios themselves have grown in size, not only providing more room for their large class sizes, but allowing for additional program expansion.
Constructed during the mid-19th century, the program’s building laid vacant and in a state of near-ruin for decades. Fine Art Connoisseur’s Publisher, Eric Rhoads, who spoke during the building’s inauguration dinner, suggested, “A building once vibrant and thriving with an important purpose, and which later crumbled and had no purpose, is brought to life again. It’s much like interest in classical realism, which was thriving, then died, and has now come back to life.”
Continuing, the academy wrote, “The Florence Academy currently has 100 students under one roof, and is one of the few classical academies offering full accreditation, resulting in the ability to get student loans. It is also working toward graduate programs for MFAs, which it plans to offer in the near future.”
From all of us at Fine Art Connoisseur, we congratulate the Florence Academy on their stunning new complex! To learn more, visit the Florence Academy.
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