News & Events

Monthly Events

• Artist’s Talks on Zoom with our Featured Artist of the Month - learn more and sign up to join these talks by following this link.

• Monthly Masterwork Practice Hour with Nick Cruz Velleman
  Dedicated time for your creative practice.

  Upcoming Practice Hours:

  • November: Sunday, November 10th at 1:00 PM Eastern Time - register at this link

  • December: Sunday, December 8th at 1:00 PM Eastern Time - register at this link

  Trying to get back into painting and drawing? Struggling to make time for your artistic practice? We've got you covered with our FREE monthly online practice hour. This is an opportunity for you — our wonderful Leo Marchutz School community — to gather together online, hone your craft, or just play around with your own projects alongside artist Nick Cruz Velleman. 

  You can expect to reconnect with your creativity and artistic practice as you make copies from selected masterworks in the medium of your choice. While Nick will provide insight into his own copying process, participants are encouraged to ask questions as the session unfolds. This includes anything they would like to improve on or learn more about, such as strategies for making a copy, approaches in a certain medium, or how to look at a masterwork differently to deepen their own work. All levels, backgrounds, and media are welcome in these interactive, virtual open studio sessions.

  Build creativity into your schedule by joining us online every month, right from your own home. Session dates and times are announced in our monthly email newsletter.

We are happy to offer this monthly online practice hour at no cost to our community. If you are enjoying this program, please consider making a donation to support the mission of the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing. Donations can be made here.

Watch previous month’s masterwork practice hours on our YouTube channel here.

Past Events & Updates

Thursday, October 24th: Community Apéritif in New York City

Thank you to all who joined!

Alongside our museum study program in New York City, we invite you to join Alan Roberts, Cathleen Keenan, Rose Guth Genochio, and other Marchutz community members on Thursday, October 24th from 7:00 to 9:00 PM at the Arthouse Hotel Lobby Bar (2178 Broadway, New York, NY 10024)​​​​​​​​ for an informal apéritif and meet-and-greet. ​​​​​Drinks and snacks will be provided. No RSVP is required. We hope to see you there!

See the exhibition online now!

L’œil et la touche spontanée: une exposition à Aix-en-Provence

Dans son bel atelier situé hôtel d'Albertas, l'association Peinture en Provence: The Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing, vous invite au vernissage de l'exposition l'œil et la touche spontanée, le lundi 03 juin à 18h00. Venez recontrer les artistes invités et découvrir l'héritage culturel et artistique de cette école de peinture fondée en 1972 à Aix-en-Provence par Léo Marchutz et ses élèves. L'entrée est située au 2 rue Aude à Aix-en-Provence. L'exposition sera ouverte tous les jours au public de 15h00 à 18h00 du 04 au 11 juin 2024.

L’œil et la touche spontanée: an exhibition in Aix-en-Provence

Join the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing on Monday, June 3rd at 6:00 PM in our lovely studio in the historic Hôtel d'Albertas for a vernissage of the upcoming exhibition, L'œil et la touche spontanée. Come meet the featured artists and discover the cultural and artistic heritage of this school founded in 1972 by the artist Leo Marchutz and his students. The entrance to the studio and exhibition is located at 2 rue Aude,  Aix-en-Provence, France. The exhibition will be open to the public every day from Tuesday, June 4th through Tuesday, June 11th from 3:00-7:00 PM.

October 2023: Moving Forward with the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing: A Note on Recent Changes and Organizational Independence

Our dedicated Board of Directors, Staff, Faculty, and Advisory Supporters would like to take this opportunity to provide an explanation of some changes in recent years regarding the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing.

The Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing was founded in 1972 in Aix-en-Provence by Leo Marchutz, William Weyman, and Samuel Bjorklund and was organized as a 1901 Association in France. In 1974, the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States and recognized in France in 1978. The school administered and ran its art programs for twelve years until 1984 when a local American study abroad organization — under the direction of its then-president Amos Booth — bought Leo Marchutz's studio property on the Route du Tholonet that had been built for the artist by architect Fernand Pouillon. Amos Booth arranged a partnership between the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing and the study abroad organization at that time to run the school from Leo's studio. For 37 years, the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing continued, expanded, and evolved and we are grateful that the school was able to carry on for decades in Leo’s studio. However, in 2021, because of various personnel, academic, and structural changes at the study abroad organization, the Board of Directors of the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing decided to end this partnership to ensure that the school could continue on for generations to come.

The heart of the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing lies not in a name, in a certain property, or in any one person, but in the substance of the teaching, the tradition of the experience, the generational passing on of knowledge, and the intrinsic versatility and fullness of trusting a "beginner’s mind" approach of using one’s senses to lead to a rich and deep experience. It is our goal and mission to preserve, nurture, and expand the pedagogy and artistic legacy of the school through ongoing dialogue, educational apprenticeship, and artistic achievement while fostering a diverse, engaged, and art-focused community in Aix-en-Provence and internationally. As ever, we are dedicated to enhancing the ability to see — into the world, into works of art, and into ourselves — encouraging the pursuit of truth, imagination, coherence, and beauty in our art and in our lives.

October 2023: You’re Invited! Join the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing for the opening of our Atelier Libre/Open Studio in Aix-en-Provence!

Join us on Saturday, October 14th for the special opening day of our open studio/atelier libre in our beautiful Albertas studio!

Bring your own art materials of choice or borrow ours for this first free session, open from 10h00 to 17h00 and followed by an aperitif and opening reception with a presentation of the Leo Marchutz School at 18h00.

Address: 2 rue Aude (ring bell “Marchutz”)

Come work on your own projects or receive guidance from the one and only Alan Roberts in this historic, light-filled studio!

Learn more about our Open Studio / Atelier Libre fall hours, price, and more at: www.leomarchutzschool.org/atelierlibre.

May 16, 2023: April 2022 - April 2023 in Review

As we celebrate one year of tirelessly pursuing our new vision for the future of the Leo Marchutz School, we wanted to take the time to reflect on the past year and share with you all an update on some of the things that our team, with the invaluable support of our Board, has accomplished since last April, and which have only been possible with your support. Please read our April 2022-April 2023 Review below to see how far we have come (and take a peek at where we plan to go)! 

• WORKSHOPS & PROGRAMS We have run many successful programs and workshops this past year including: 

• “Painting in Provence” summer high school program in Aix-en-Provence and Paris, France in June/July 2022 led by Alan Roberts, Cathleen Keenan, and Rose Guth, along with Estelle Roger-Fix who served as a wonderful professor of French, and the invaluable help of Student Assistant, Amelia Myre;

• “Imagination & Form in Great Works of Art” weekend museum study seminars in Washington, D.C. in September 2022 (led by Alan Roberts, Hilary Stein, Patrick Beeby, and Cathleen Keenan) and in New York City in February 2023 (led by Alan Roberts, Cathleen Keenan, and Rose Guth);

• “Revisiting Rembrandt Through Drawing” online course, taught by Nick Cruz Velleman in January/February 2023;

• Spring Landscape Painting Workshop in Aix-en-Provence, France and Venice, Italy in April 2023 (led by Alan Roberts and Cathleen Keenan)

• “A Bend in the Road: A Poetry and Art Workshop at the National Gallery of Art” in Washington, D.C., in late April 2023 (led by Amelia Myre, Sophia Hall, and Nick Cruz Velleman);

• Exciting Enrollment Surge! In addition to the well-attended Museum Seminars and online course, this year there is a 225 percent enrollment increase in this summer’s 4.5-week program from last year! We are so looking forward to it;

• ONLINE INITIATIVES: We have been so overjoyed to connect with our community members online in a number of different ways:

• Fundraising! With your help, we raised more than $100,000 in monetary donations in 2022; 

• Launching our "Community Artists" page and our "Featured Artist of the Month" initiative to encourage artists in our community and bring our constituents together;

• Hosting raffles and giveaways to build community and engage our constituents;

• Sending monthly newsletters to inform our community of upcoming programs, initiatives, and news items;

• Outreach! We have been busily reaching out to over 240 schools, other arts organizations, publications, and, as importantly, to individuals, in order to build new relationships, foster cherished old ones, and to connect with other institutions and new friends in order to plant seeds for the future and spread the word far and wide about this School and its programs. 

• Thanks to the assistance and support of a dear friend of the School, we have started building a highly useful, specialized database that will allow us to finally create a unified, single place in which to gather and document all students and friends of the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing and to communicate with large cohorts more effectively. (We promise never, ever to provide your contact information to anyone outside of the School!); 

• COMMUNITY EVENTS: We have also been lucky to connect with you in-person this past year:

• At the home of Jennifer Griffin and Greg Myre, we hosted a very special event in Washington, D.C. in September 2022 with over 75 attendees that brought together local parents and prospective students, dear former students and their families, prominent journalists and businesspeople, diplomats, high school teachers and administrators, and college staff, along with former Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing students and other longtime friends of the School;  

• And, in February 2023, we hosted a festive community happy hour in New York City with over 60 attendees that included an intergenerational cadre of enthusiastic former and prospective students; as well as old and new friends interested in the School; 

• NEW STUDIOS: One of the most exciting parts of this year has been finding and securing two new spaces to call the new homes of the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing:

• 10 Rue Espariat: Located in the sublime, historic Hotel d’Albertas, our in-town studio will house our office and serve as our main “atelier” for drawing, painting, seminar, creative writing courses, French courses, and more for all of our upcoming programs. See this video on Instagram here for a look inside the studio;

• Beaurecueil: Located in the countryside outside of Aix, this beautiful 18th century farmhouse at the foot of Mont Sainte-Victoire provides student studio space during class in the landscape – as well as a place of respite during a beautiful afternoon of painting outside in all seasons. See photos here (many of you may recognize this very special farmhouse!).

• PARTNERSHIPS: We are very fortunate to be partnering with schools and organizations whose missions align beautifully with our own. A couple highlights of these exciting partnerships: 

• St. John’s College: We are happy to have reinvigorated our partnership with St. John's College (Santa Fe and Annapolis) for our upcoming summer program;

• Prep for Prep: We are honored to partner with Prep for Prep, an organization in New York City whose mission is to develop future leaders by creating access for young people of color to first-rate educational, leadership development and professional advancement opportunities. As part of this partnership, we are committed to providing as many students as possible with tuition-free access to our high school summer program. We look forward to welcoming a cohort of five Prep for Prep high school students to Aix-en-Provence this coming summer, and we are thrilled to seek support in our joint quest with Prep for Prep to provide full scholarships for these students.

As we look ahead to this next year and beyond, we are dedicated to:

• Continuing to expand meaningful programming (both short- and longer-term, stateside and abroad, in-person and online) for the rest of 2023 and beyond, including the imminent announcement of a Spring 2024 13-week program intended for adults, college students, and gap year students;

• Increasing enrollments School-wide and building on this year’s exciting numbers; 

• Fundraising in support of securing the viability, legacy, and growth forward of this 51-year-old beloved educational organization so that it may continue to offer its unique programs for future generations of students; 

• Expanding our faculty and staff to adequately serve and advance the school’s core mission of offering life-enhancing art programs to students of all backgrounds; 

• Investing in our two new studio spaces to optimize the student experience by providing well-equipped, safe and inspiring spaces in which students can create, learn, and work;

• Increasing outreach efforts and finding innovative avenues through which to share the good word about the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing; 

• Partnering with more high schools, universities, and non-profit organizations with the aim of providing access to our programs to increasing numbers of students who may not otherwise have had the opportunity to participate in arts education like ours;

• Linking with more local artists, schools and institutions in Aix-en-Provence in support of mutual artistic, creative and educational interests in service of the local community and the unique patrimoine – cultural heritage – of Aix; 

• Continuing our "Featured Artist of the Month" initiative with an exciting roster of artists to come; 

• Continued linking with arts and educational organizations in the United States and other countries outside of France; 

• Exploring opportunities for recording oral histories with the founders, former directors, and alumni of the Leo Marchutz School, and creating a podcast to share these stories;

• And more! Stay tuned!

May 2023: Letter from Executive Director Rose Guth

Dear Leo Marchutz School Community,

I hope this finds you well wherever you are in the world. I am writing today from my desk in Portland, Oregon, where we finally have some much-needed sunshine outside and where I’ve been busy organizing our upcoming summer programs in Aix-en-Provence, France. We are looking forward to welcoming 25 students of all ages and backgrounds to our new studio spaces in the beautiful Hôtel d’Albertas and Beaurecueil, where they will discover the magic of the Leo Marchutz School experience. I’m writing today to celebrate a big milestone with you all: just over one year ago, we officially announced our renewed direction as a fully independent organization and launched our new website. Since then, we have felt an outpouring of love and support from our international network of artists, writers, friends, old and new colleagues, fellow educators, and family.

As we celebrate one year of tirelessly pursuing our vision for the future of the Leo Marchutz School, we wanted to share with you all an exciting update on what we’ve accomplished since last April, all of which has only been possible with your support. Please read our April 2022-April 2023 Review on the News & Events page on our website to see how far we have come (and take a peek at where we plan to go)!

I’ve always known how special the Leo Marchutz School community really is, but never more so than during the past year – the outpouring of support and love for this endeavor, as well as your stories of human connection, shared experience, and loving community that have grown out of your encounter(s) with this School, are infinitely moving. We’ve also been so heartened by the support of this beautiful institution by friends who’ve never attended the school but who believe in the value and importance of its sustained existence in the world. I’ve been brought to tears more than once when I hear that certain currents now running through former students’ lives – whether professional, interpersonal, extracurricular, spiritual, internal, or otherwise – all began, somehow, with the simple act of picking up a paintbrush in France. Nanette Jenkins, a Leo Marchutz School student from 1975, says it so eloquently:

“I never imagined how [studying at the Leo Marchutz School] would change my life, and that the lessons learned about art would touch every part of my life. I learned to see with new eyes, giving attention to the light. I learned that one mark, one value affects every other mark and value, thus the whole piece. Amazing how these lessons are valuable in teaching, in music, in personal relationships and in life. I am forever grateful to this community of artists that welcomed me with love and respect, and continues to do so. The Marchutz gift of learning to see has helped me to find a profound joy in the natural world and the people in my life.”

And one of our dear high schoolers from summer 2022 said simply, “I developed a true sense of admiration and wonder for the world around me that I had never truly seen.” Accounts such as these, spanning more than 50 years of the School, buoy us and encourage our team forward. Reminders that this school makes such a profound impact and difference in students’ lives give us confidence that we made the right decision to continue the Leo Marchutz School for future students.

As we look back on this past year with both gratitude and a sense of wonder, we also look ahead toward the future to ensure that we can continue to provide the life-changing education that the Leo Marchutz School has become known for in its more than 50 years in operation. We know we are not alone in the landscape of schools and nonprofits who need to fundraise to provide a foundation for the work that we do. So it is in a spirit of reciprocity and grateful admiration that I come to you with an invitation: Would you commit to the longevity and unfolding future of the Leo Marchutz School in a new way?

At the present moment there are several ways to support the Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing with financial contributions. This next year (and beyond!), we are dedicated to: 1. supporting and expanding our faculty and staff; 2. investing in our beautiful new studio spaces; and 3. supporting student scholarships. I invite you to consider giving back to the Leo Marchutz School to make these efforts possible.

Below, I would like to specifically highlight the opportunity to support student scholarships. Contributions toward scholarships, such as the two specific funds outlined below, allow us to continue to welcome students of all backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses to Aix-en-Provence.

We are honored to partner this upcoming summer with Prep for Prep, an organization in New York City whose mission is to develop future leaders by creating access for young people of color to first-rate educational, leadership development and professional advancement opportunities. Part of this mission involves raising funds for their participation. We look forward to welcoming a cohort of Prep for Prep high school students to Aix-en-Provence this summer, and so we are actively fundraising to support as many Prep for Prep high school students as we possibly can for this upcoming June/July. A donation of $8,750 covers one student’s tuition, room, board, and fees for the 4.5-week summer program! Every amount donated toward this wonderful cause makes a difference in the lives of these students and we thank our donors for their generous support of this great cause.

This summer we will also welcome students from St. John’s College (from both their Santa Fe and Annapolis campuses) to Aix-en-Provence as part of our adult Painting in Provence summer program. The Leo Marchutz School-St. John’s connection goes back to the very beginning of the Leo Marchutz School and we are delighted for this reinvigorated partnership! We aim to make the cost of attendance for St. John’s students, many of whom attend college on loans, as low as possible to allow us to support all students who would like to participate.

Please consider making a donation to support these important partnerships — and student scholarships in general — for this next generation of Marchutz School students! Make a donation now.

Your support and dedication to ensuring the success, future, and integrity of the Leo Marchutz School mean so much to us, and we thank you sincerely.

With gratitude,
Rose

Rose Guth, Executive Director
The Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing

(May 2023)

February 16, 2023: Community Apéritif in New York City

Thank you to the approximately 50 attendees who joined Alan Roberts, Sam Bjorklund, Cathleen Keenan, Barry Hart, Rose Guth, and other Marchutz community members on Thursday, February 16th in New York City for our community aperitif at the Arthouse Hotel Lobby Bar! It was a joy to see so many familiar faces from all fifty years of the school’s existence alongside our museum study program.

September 19, 2022: Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1904 & the Birth of an Art School: How One Painting by Paul Cézanne Led to the Creation of an Art School for American Students in the South of France

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Monday, September 19, 2022 at the home of Jennifer Griffin and Greg Myre for a talk given by Alan Roberts about the origins of the Leo Marchutz School and our vision for the future. We are so grateful for the enthusiasm and support of our community. If you could not make it to the talk, we invite you to watch the video below.