Class Title: Abstracting the Figure
Instructor: Akintayo Akintobi
Cost: $50
Time and date(s): Friday, 12/12 from 11:00AM-2:00PM
Location: TBD in Art Lab
Skill level: Beginner/Intermediate
Audience: Teen-Adult
Description: This workshop introduces participants to the abstraction of the human figure by deconstructing it into basic shapes and vibrant color forms. Through painting and compositional exercises, students will explore how to simplify and reimagine the body using bold, colorful arrangements. This approach serves as a foundational method for drawing, helping students visualize the human form as a series of interconnected shapes. Emphasis will be placed on balancing multiple visual elements such as shape, color, and pattern within a composition to create expressive and harmonious works of art. Abstraction encourages the brain to think divergently, allowing it to see multiple possibilities and solutions. The goal of the class is to use this process of transforming realistic images into stylized, shape-based representations to enhance imaginative thinking and neural flexibility. All supplies included. [If this class does not make it to December, it will be offered again in mid January. Be on the lookout!]
About the Instructor:
Akintayo Akintobi is a Visual artist born in Ibadan, a city in Southwestern Nigeria. He has been painting since he was seven years old, and about a decade ago, he started painting professionally. He earned an MFA in studio art from East Tennessee State University and a Bachelor of Arts and Education, specializing in Painting from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He has participated in several group exhibitions and art competitions locally and Internationally. Akintobi’s work explores the rich Yoruba culture. He uses shapes, African motifs, and patterns to convey the complexity of human emotions, unique behaviors, and reactions to situations in the environment and society he was nurtured. He incorporates symbolic representations that portray metaphors, stories, and aesthetic values particular to the West African and Yoruba cultures.
