I’ve enjoyed introducing students to art in Europe for the past seven summers. I first traveled to France as an art student in the 1970s, while studying at the New York Studio School, and find in our program an opportunity to share with students today the excitement of discovering the wealth of its art and culture. France is special in that much of its painting is linked to its regional landscapes. Our locations in La Napoule and Paris offer excellent starting points for the exploration of such integration of painting and landscape, a special interest of mine. I have worked on site from landscapes throughout the United States and have focused for the past ten years on the local environment of Davis, where I am Professor of Art Studio.

Study of works of the past has played an important role in my own development as an artist, and has always played an important role in my courses in drawing and painting. In France, visits to museums introduce students to basic themes—the integration of space and the human figure in art of the Renaissance, the exploration of color in Impressionism, and the introduction of abstraction in the 20th century—through first-hand experience.