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| Jeff Watts class demo |
Before I start
this next chapter of the Atelier’s history I would like to preface it by saying
I have seen so much in the way of human behavior and have helped to cultivate
so many wonderful artists who have gone on to incredible careers. Alas if only that was always the case. Along with the amazing relationships there have
always been difficulties with complex personality types that simply do not
factor into your plans for peaceful teaching, but one must put behind the
trials and tribulations in the true pursuit of beauty and mastery. This is one
of the ironies of life and to this day I aspire to create a truly peaceful and
productive environment to study in. I
have left out the names of certain individuals during this phase as it would
only serve to open up old wounds. I felt
this important to mention before moving on as it has forged my personality in
so many ways.
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| Erik Gist class demo |
It was during this phase that a
few young talented students begin to stand out as potential teachers and a new
era of development and growth would begin.
They would all prove to be indispensible to the Atelier’s future success
and would become my extended family of sorts.
They all were just beginning their artistic journeys but were such
incredible students and people that I can’t begin to say enough great things
about them. Amongst these young talents
were Ben Young, Meadow Rozelle-Ryker, Lucas Graciano and Mark Hill. It was
truly a great period. I was designing
new classes and started a dual teaching program to assist in the development of
new teachers from within the ranks of the Atelier. I have yet to see this style of teaching as
adding a second teacher would be too expensive of a proposition for many
Ateliers.
At the time the name Atelier
had not caught on and we used it as a new way to reinvent an old method of
training. I applied to a new
organization called the Art Renewal Center run by Fred Ross. They were trying to assist getting the word
out about small privately owned entities that were of exceptional merit. At first my curriculum was a hard sale as
they looked over all of the class descriptions and commented on the fact that
too many of the classes utilized photos and were too illustrative. I developed a well thought out response about
the different careers and paths present day fine artists and illustrators where
going to have to navigate. Much to my
excitement the reaction was a seal of approval on our entire program. I was on my way to finally getting recognition
for the successful teaching and the program I was designing.
This was truly an exceptional growth period
for the Atelier. I was teaching full
time and helping develop new tiers of teachers who were originally my
understudies and now were proving instrumental in the new momentum. The gaming industry had taken note and many
of their professionals were coming in to train.
People were coming down from L.A. to see what was happening and all was
quite surreal. My ability to cultivate exceptional
skills within my students was now becoming fairly commonplace. All seemed great but the wear and tear of carrying
a successful illustration career, teaching full time and trying to stay true to
my fine art aspirations was starting to affect my health.
It was at this time that I had expanded the
Atelier to 3 rooms. We had a lot of
overhead and although things were good I was starting to yearn for a permanent
location for the Atelier. We now had a
13 year track record of consistent growth but not strong enough financials to
purchase something. We tried on numerous
occasions but were denied. I continued
to push, grow and change the program. We
started a youth program called the Future Masters Program. It was very
successful and all teachers participated.
Along with this I designed a variety of Certificate programs for
students looking to navigate the some 60+ classes I had designed.
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| Jeff Watts class demo |
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| Meadow Rozelle-Ryker class demo |
Many new challenges arose as
I begin to work with the young talented staff of new teachers I was
grooming. Many were in their early to
mid twenties and were new to the responsibilities that accompany teaching
students their own age or significantly older.
I too had witnessed this and had to learn to manage successfully all of
the variety of personalities and true characters one runs into in this sort of
business. This is an awkward time for
the teachers as they had to compete against each other to try and fill their
classes and gain a following but at the same time try to respect their fellow
teachers and not sabotage their efforts.
I started to see some troublesome patterns as one of my senior teachers,
whom I had let back into the school, had started to constantly undermine the
other teachers as he vied to try and sway
the students over to his vision and intentions.
This started a very difficult period of
management for me as I was constantly trying to shore up the school and keep it
on its original course. It was as this
time that I also made contact with an old friend from school who was very
instrumental to my growth back in my
Calabasis years. He had vanished and no
one knew where he was. I finally tracked
him down and offered him my first full time teacher position and was ecstatic
when he agreed. He turned out to be
very helpful to the very advanced students and teachers but did not enjoy
teaching the rudimentary level students of which much of my school
consisted. This would prove to be
detrimental and caused numerous problems.
This period was not all bad and as with all difficult times there are
always lessons to be learned. This phase
lasted about a year and then I had to let him go. I truly have no hard feelings towards him and
hope this most talented individual finds his way.
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| Robert Watts class demo |
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| Jeff Watts teaching plein air painting |
After his departure it
became apparent that a vacuum had been created and someone had to step into
it. This would be the senior teacher with
whom I had so many previous issues. He
had long been plotting his exit but not in the professional manner you would
expect from a senior employee you had not only trained from day one but also
had such strong ties to all areas of the Atelier. I will not go in-depth into all of the issues
and events that transpired. I have
always held fast to my belief in Karma and it was truly time for this
tumultuous period to come to an end. I
apologize if I sound a bit negative about some of these events. I feel it is important to address this issue
because it was such a long period of the Ateliers history and it established
many of the qualities I now look for in potential teachers. I am happy to say that this lead to the most
joyful and solid period that the Atelier has had. As I look back over all of the many phases
and plateaus it brings back a wonderful book I have read several times. It is titled “Mastery” by George
Leonard. It is a great read and
addresses the many plateaus and trials one must face on his or her journey to
mastery in any field. I would highly
recommend it as you are moving forward on your artistic path.
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| Jeff Watts Illustration demo |
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| Marty Davis teaching ecorche class |
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| Jeff Watts assisting a student |
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| Jeff Watts teaching |
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| Westlake location |
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| Jeff Watts teaching |
