Making art approachable and affordable
An incredible worldwide resource for artists is located in downtown Chattanooga, on the ground floor of the Arts Building at the corner of King St. and 11th St. In just over a decade, the Townsend Atelier has built a reputation for being a consistent source of the highest quality art materials and instruction.
The Atelier is a labor of love, made by people who have dedicated their lives to creating an environment for artists to cultivate their talents. The workshops offered by this prestigious institution bring instructors and students from around the world to participate in the traditional master/apprentice approach to art.
The Atelier is devoted to providing a high level of instruction to any who wish to advance their technical ability, regardless of skill level. All of their classes are taught by professional artists, in a variety of fields including painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and mixed media. They also host critiques, artist talks, art exhibits, and weekly drawing studios.
The Atelier was founded in 2007 by Stan and Peggy Townsend, and spent its first two years at the Business Development Center. In 2009, they began hosting classes on Main St in what is now the Feed Co. The classes have been growing slowly and steadily, and 2019 is set to be their biggest year thus far, with over 20 exciting workshops with internationally recognized artists already scheduled.
The process of seeking out artists to teach classes at the Atelier is mutually selective. One of the primary reasons that people travel from other countries to attend their workshops is because the artists who are teaching are at the top of their field, and well recognized.
“Chattanooga is always surprising to our visitors, in a good way,” Peggy tells us. “They get here and fall in love with the city, and some of them end up moving here.”
In addition to being famous, these visiting instructors are extremely good at what they do, and able to give personal attention to each student because class sizes are limited to 12 students—it is the visual arts equivalent of getting music lessons from rock stars.
When they are in town to teach classes, most of the visiting artists do demonstrations for the general public, providing opportunities for art education to those who didn’t register for the class.
Last week, for example, Ecuadorian oil painting master Carlos San Millan did a free demo where he talked and painted for over two hours.
In addition to being informative, these events are great entertainment for art lovers and collectors. In the spirit of fun, they occasionally host “Artist Throwdowns,” where two painters compete in front of a live audience, sometimes sharing a bit of friendly heckling with each other.
The popularity of their events and consistent availability of their workshops has made the Atelier into a home for the local art community. Every Thursday night they host a figure drawing studio with a live model—there isn’t an instructor, but it is a great place to find informal critiques from friends.
The community also offers a way to network with artists, and to learn from those with more experience—from giving advice on how to get into galleries to simply talking about their life’s work.
The facility is accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds, with any level of skill—high school and college students, professionals, retirees, and children. Many adults and children attend private classes at the studio, and there is a week-long Art Camp for kids every summer.
They are also partnering with the Tennessee River Gorge to do a fundraiser for their non-profit in May, and are in the process of selecting a group of artists to work with them on that project.
“Our missions go well together,” Peggy notes, “we are happy to help protect and preserve the natural landscapes that artists interpret.”
The Atelier has been around long enough to see careers shaped, and artists who were amateurs exhibiting professionally and taking master classes. It has been selected by the National Portrait Society to be a site for their fall academy, an honor that is not lightly bestowed upon a learning institution.
“We had this vision years ago, and kept talking about doing it—about having a need for art instruction, and we had a specific way we wanted to do it,” Peggy says. “We do it because we love it—for us it’s all about making it happen, and not anything else.”