The Famous Artists School

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

1957 Envelope from the Famous Artists School

In the beginning, we all come to discover art in different ways. Perhaps a teacher in school handed you a small set of paints and said, “Try this,” or a friend of the family was an art director and encouraged you to draw, or perhaps a favorite aunt took you to a museum at a young age and that lit the fires of creative passion. Just a little encouragement, at the right time, can start a person on a life-long journey of the spirit.

In my case, two events sealed my very fortunate fate. In 1957, my father decided to give my mother a really big gift. My mother liked to draw and paint, but never had formal training, so my father decided to enroll her in the Famous Artists School. The School was founded in Westport, Connecticut in 1948 and run by the most well-known and loved illustrators of the day - and this was the Golden Age of Illustration. Norman Rockwell, Albert Dorne, Robert Fawcett, John Atherton, Austin Briggs…