Students at the school

The class is comprised of students who represent a mix of ability levels and ages, from 18 to 80-something. Despite their differences, however, all the students treat one another with a collegial warmth and respect. In fact, while the same core group keeps returning semester after semester to learn more, new students always feel welcome and soon enjoy the same good-natured banter and sense of belonging that returning students have.

Professional artists study with Mr. Halstead to hone their skills or solve particular problems. Whether they are illustrators, colorists, plein air painters, or portraitists, professional artists invariably learn from Mr. Halstead and one another and enjoy the camaraderie of these Saturday sessions with their peers.

A surprising number of lapsed artists study with Mr. Halstead. These are often people who showed talent as children but got frustrated somewhere along the way and gave up on studying art for a while—maybe for decades. Having finally reconnected with their desire to paint or draw, these students are thrilled to once again be smelling the studio’s familiar scents, impatient to make up for lost time, and overjoyed at having finally found a teacher who can teach. “I wish I’d had a teacher like you years ago!” they often lament.

Consequently, you can enter class as a complete novice and feel totally comfortable and entitled to be there; or, you can come in as a skilled professional artist and still feel that you’ve found the right place and the right teacher to take your work to the next level.