Anatomy for Figurative Artists - w/CRITIQUES
Adult Online Art | Available
Online on Zoom | 8 Mondays: Jun 16,23,30, Jul 7, 14,21,28, Aug 4 2025 | 10AM-1PM Arizona Time (*always on Mountain Standard Time!) | recording available for 2 months
Anatomy for Figurative Artists : a focused artistic anatomy class highlighting the landmarks of the body most used by figurative sculptors, and 2D artists . Alicia N. Ponzio is an experienced figurative sculptor and instructor, as well as the former director of Anatomy and Ecorche Programs at the Florence Academy of Art. She has taught artistic anatomy extensively to 2D and 3D artists as well as at Pixar Studios and The University of Calgary Medical School. This course is designed to offer students information that applies directly to their artistic practice and furthers their understanding of the landmarks we often discuss in figurative art classes. Alicia will provide a lecture and demo each week, using pencil sketching and clay to describe the important landmarks and delving deeper into the structure with slides. Students will be encouraged to follow along at home with the exercises. There will be a private group established for this class on Padlet, where students can submit their homework and will receive written feedback. Students may also use the group to share information and engage in discussions related to the class. Each week, Alicia will offer a selection of critiques live during the Zoom sessions to ensure that each student will be highlighted during the course. The live critiques tend to be extremely helpful to the entire group.
Scholarships Available!
Alicia Ponzio
Alicia N. Ponzio (b.1974) began her career as a Lieutenant in the United States' Navy Nurse Corps. After experimenting with various mediums in figurative art, she found her voice in sculpture and made the decision to pursue it. Her pursuit took her to the Florence Academy of Art (FAA) in Florence, Italy, where she completed the Sculpture Program in 2008. She was then the director of the Artistic Anatomy and Écorché Sculpture programs, as well as a figure drawing instructor at the FAA until 2011, when she returned to the United States to set up her creative studio in downtown San Francisco. In 2014 Alicia and her partner, Justin Hess (painter, b. 1981), co-founded a private teaching atelier, also in San Francisco, JHess Studios. Alicia is active in a number of professional organizations including the National Sculpture Society and Portrait Society of America, in addition to creating works for gallery and commission, and maintaining an active teaching schedule at JHess Studios and various other venues in the United States and beyond. Alicia brings life to her bronzes and plasters, focusing on the abstract movement of forms as embodied in the human figure, as well as the subtle shades of human emotion. She favors asymmetry, irregularity, and variety in design: qualities that suggest a human touch. Her figure compositions and portraits have received recognition and honors from several organizations including the Art Renewal Center, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, The Portrait Society of America, The California Art Club and The National Sculpture Society from which Alicia received the Alex J. Ettl Grant in 2016. Her work ranges from miniature portraits to larger scale single figure and multi-figure compositions. She works extensively in plaster to achieve her effect, and casts the final product in bronze.