Enthralled in Art
Demystifying the Artistic Process
Words by Taylor Dutch Photos by Eric Morales
When Justin Balleza stands in front of his students in the classroom at Atelier Dojo, he instructs them in the practice of cast drawing. But while the students listen intently to the influential direction of their teacher, Balleza is just as impacted by their presence.
While he hopes to provide his students with a versatile set of tools for their own art practice, teaching has also enabled Balleza to appreciate and refine his own process as an artist in Austin.
“What I’m trying to teach my students in this accelerated way is absolutely affecting the way I’m looking at my stuff so I’m learning from my students… and that’s really exciting,” Balleza explains. “I don’t think I could have done that on my own without this group, without my students, without the community aspect and all the different voices that are involved.”
Balleza is one of 11 instructors at Atelier Dojo, a professional arts academy that offers classes, workshops, and open studio space for artists. Located inside Canopy Arts Complex on Springdale Road, the Dojo has a curriculum in realism taught by local experts.
He joined Atelier Dojo in the spring of 2018 and has since gained an appreciation for the studio’s mission of “opening things up and providing a way to demystify” the process of classical art for students of varying abilities. Similarly, Atelier Dojo and the artistic community built into the academy have also helped Balleza clarify his own artistic process.
After earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas in 2009, Balleza spent three years studying at Atelier Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy, where he trained in classical realist techniques. Drawing from the long format training he earned in Florence where artists could spend weeks or even years on a single work of art, the chance to teach at the Dojo has provided Balleza with a new opportunity to share knowledge and skills in the most functional way possible. Melding the beauty of longform practice with the efficiency of an eight-week curriculum has provided him with a better understanding and appreciation for instruction.
“I’m forcing myself to work faster and more consistently, and the quality has improved because the momentum in these pieces is a lot fresher, rather than pieces in the past that would take a long time,” he acknowledges. In turn, he’s become even more enthralled in his work because he’s trying to give his students “a more functional way of looking at this universal language of drawing and painting.”
His cast drawing class is an eight-week course in which students learn how to draw from real objects in the studio using the “sight-size method,” a technique that focuses on starting “from life to the scale of life” by using sculptures for reference. In drawing sculptures from a distance, students are trained to see objects through light and dark shapes, a perspective that develops a drawing style focused on line, value, and composition.
“I hope that [students] can get a set of tools that they can use in their own practice [and] in any situation,” he says.
For years, Balleza has struggled to find his identity as an artist. However, joining the Dojo has not only enabled him to contribute to the artistic community in Austin but has also helped him find his sense of self as an artist and instructor. “I feel like I’m in the Austin art community as me, not trying to figure out what I need to do and still maintain my identity,” he admits. “That feels extremely liberating. There’s no questions there, and that’s really nice because I think most of the people at the Dojo feel really free to just come in and let their hair down. It’s a really good environment.”
Did you know:
The classes at Atelier Dojo include cast drawing, figure drawing, fundamentals of painting, intro to drawing, portrait painting in oils, figure painting in oils, portrait drawing, and master copy class. They even have a summer art camp for high schoolers.
Contact:
justinballezastudio@gmail.com
justinballeza.com
@justinballezastudio
atelierdojo.com
