Aaron Holland Fine Art

The Bougie Studio was founded by Mr. Peter Bougie to teach interested students how to draw and paint.

The system he modeled in setting up his studio was based on a method of teaching called the Atelier (pronounced ah-tell-yeah' ) which means 'workshop/studio'. He and Brian Lewis taught at a ratio of 2:12, or, two teachers to twelve students. Naturally this has been proven to be a very effective form of teaching...

However, the environment can also be like a 'pressure-cooker' for both the students and teachers, one that requires close working quarters and sustained concentration. Needless to say, I felt (and continue to feel) enormous gratitude that they took a chance on me, by allowing me to study with them.

An interesting part of the Atelier system is that the student is able to learn directly from a professional, and that he is further able to learn by seeing the teacher work on his own paintings. It may look like a source of pride to some, but just as I was grateful to study with Pete and Brian, so did they reflect similar feelings of being able to study with Richard Lack, and in turn Lack was a grateful student of R.H. Ives Gammel, and so on and so on... all the way back to somewhere in France about the late 1600's. It is fun to think about carrying-on a tradition like that, and also about being a part of something bigger than oneself.

I learned during my studies at the Bougie Studio that in a contemporary world, Fine Art is still relevant. I also learned that it is more important to be successful as an artist and as a person, than to be successful in the worlds' eyes; and to be successful in anything takes hard work and dedication. I learned that quality takes time, and that there are no shortcuts in life.

These are some of the traits I learned to appreciate, from a man whose work and life were set as examples before me at the Bougie Studio:

Peter Bougie.

*paintings copyright Peter Bougie

Mr. Brian Lewis was my mentor for about three and a half years at the Bougie Studio (MPLS) where he instructed his students in classical drawing and painting techniques.

Brian's lineage as an artist comes also from the French Academic approach, specifically classical realism, or neo-classicism via Richard Lack (et al. Gammel). Brian is probably best known for his still-life and portraiture. He is in fact one of the finest portrait and figurative painters alive. He is also a well respected landscape painter.

I remember on weekends, or sometimes on a week-long vacation, Brian would take a sketching trip to Colorado or the North Shore or some distant, beautiful location with other artists and return with a bundle of small plein air sketches under his arm. All of us students would gather around to admire his paintings. These paintings would often become the subject of large-scale finished paintings like the one above. The picture(above) hung in the foyer of the Bougie Studio for a number of years while I was attending. Brian is currently instructing at The Atelier in Minneapolis, and is preparing for a one-man show which is to be announced.

For more information about Mr. Lewis or The Atelier tradition click here.