Gage Academy of Art

The Gage Academy of Art is a fine art school located in Seattle, Washington, specializing in drawing, painting, and sculpture. The core of its programming is traditional observational training, with an emphasis on the foundation skills of figure drawing and painting. Other classes include perspective, cast drawing, and color theory.

The Academy was conceived in 1989 by New York artist Gary Faigin and architect Pamela Belyea, and opened the following summer as a month of workshops held in Santa Fe. By 1992, after the founders moved to Seattle, it expanded to scheduled workshops in New York, Seattle and Santa Fe with a roster of nationally-known professional artists.

In 1995, the school began operations year-round in Seattle with a variety of classes and workshops for artists of all levels of ability. In 1997, the Academy added teen summer art workshops, an aspect of the Academy which has grown into year-round children and teen programs on-site and in Seattle's public schools. The school became a nonprofit in 2000 known as the Seattle Academy of Fine Art.

The school grew rapidly. In 2004 the Academy moved into the historic St. Nicholas School Building in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, quadrupling its square footage and allowing the school to offer a broader range of educational and community events, especially public programs tailored to serving emerging artists from Seattle and the region.

Over the years, prominent nationally-respected contemporary realist artists have taught workshops at Gage including John Nava, Martha Mayer Erlebacher, Jacob Collins, Michael Grimaldi, Tony Ryder, Scott Fraser, Sandra Freckleton, Michael Bergt, Wade Schuman, Steven Assael, Sigmund Abeles and many more. Four prominent Northwest artists teach year-long ateliers at Gage: Juliette Aristides, Mark Kang-O'Higgins, Suzanne Brooker and Gary Faigin. Youth Programs instructors have included Marita Dingus, Jim Woodring, Susan Robb, and a long line-up of excellent local professional artists.

Two major annual events at Gage showcase the school's commitment to serve the local public and artists' community. The "Drawing Jam" held every December features models in every studio accompanied by live musicians. Hundreds of artists of all ages and stripes attend to spend the 12-hour day drawing with free art supplies, free cafe refreshments and 12-hours of music and models.

In June of every year, Gage hosts its "Annual Student Show and Open House". Every Gage adult student is invited to show their artwork in a one-month exhibition juried by a local gallery owner. The evening culminates with the "Academy Awards" where winning students receive donated art supplies and first prize winners walk down the red carpet to accept "Oskars" (gold-painted studio mannequins) from the school's Directors. The free event draws hundreds and raises thousands of dollars in art supplies for deserving art students.

In 2006, the school changed its name to "Gage" Academy of Art, an old French-English word meaning "a challenge or a promise." The metaphor seemed apt and now, in 2007, Gage continues to serve approximately 800 adult students and 700 youth students a year with arts programs that challenge assumptions and promise artist engagement.




Our Mission
Guided by the belief that artists are made, not born, the Gage Academy of Art is committed to providing an unmatched foundation in the principles of drawing, paintings and sculpture to artists of all levels of proficiency. The Academy seeks to prepare artists to achieve their individual goals and to meet the creative challenges of the twenty-first century with insight, skill and sound technique, regardless of medium or style.




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At the Academy, We Cultivate New Ways of Seeing

Engaging in the artistic process asks artists to challenge their assumptions, intentions and objectives. Likewise, engaging with a work of art can communicate ideas and foster inquiry that expands the viewer’s perceptions. For artists, young and old, visual training develops self-awareness, heightens critical-thinking skills and enriches learning in all areas of life.



At the Academy, Everyone Is An Artist

There is no prerequisite for participating in classes or workshops at the Academy. We invite members of our community to come and explore their artistic interests through drawing, painting and sculpting programs that range from classical realism to pure abstraction.



At the Academy, We Foster Creativity

Artistic training challenges and enriches the intellectual power and imaginative potential of every student. Our professional-artist instructors deliver exceptional technical training with classes and workshops that encourage individual artists to explore their own unique expressive voice.



At the Academy, We Teach Kids Visual Literacy

GAGE is committed to building the next generation of creative thinkers. Our broad range of youth programs for children and teens, ages six to seventeen, ensure that young artists build essential critical-thinking skills, develop cultural and community awareness and expand their aptitude for learning in all subject areas.



At the Academy, We Train Professional Artists

With the goal of training and sustaining professional artists, full-time students may complete a foundation certificate program or work in a mentored atelier program. We also offer regular professional development lectures led by working artists, art critics and local gallery owners. Our advanced programs ask artists to examine how they generate ideas and how to build a practice of visual inquiry.



At the Academy, We Nurture Connoisseurship

As part of our desire to make art accessible to a broad range of people, the Academy delivers regular art history lectures, tours of local museums and on-site art exhibitions as well as national and international art history tours. We also know that artists need to understand art history to progress in their own work and that many members of the general public want to understand art history more deeply.



At the Academy, We Build Community

With more than forty student and professional artists working in studios on site, two art galleries and many annual community events, the Academy brings artists of all ages and skill levels together to make art as they learn from one another. Our annual lineup of free art programs — from evening lectures and artist’s critique circles to year-long free youth classes and our annual Drawing Jam, Student Show and biannual Art Walkabouts — demonstrate our commitment to building a dynamic visual arts center for our whole community.

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Gage Academy of Art Art School Location

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