Ecorche/Artistic Anatomy Courses

The Evening Ecorche course is by far the most popular course offered by the Studio Della Statua. It is specifically designed for students enrolled elsewhere in Florence's art schools, for the purpose of learning artistic anatomy outside of school hours. in the last ten years, hundreds of students from every major academy and studio in Florence have taken this course, and has earned Jason the reputation of a quality anatomy instructor.

The course consists of about 12 hours of class time. Rather than emphasis on meticulous modelling in multicolored clay, which produces a nice looking study but can make the course drag on for months and at the sacrifice of information retention, my approach is ‘quick and dirty’, placing emphasis on learning muscles, bones, and their functions as part of a whole. We don't waste too much time making it look pretty - the ecorche studies are recycled anyway - but what a student DOES leave with is a thorough conception of each bone and muscle in relation to the rest of the figure. We cover the entire torso in just two sessions, the forearm and all it's complexities in a single evening - and the information sticks. The purpose of modeling of the ecorche is to reinforce the information presented and to clarify function.

The key to this ecorche course is in its materials. I use a unique ecorche armature designed specially for this course - a resin armature that is half skeletal and half 'flayed', illustrating the muscle system on one side, leaving the bare bones on the other. This armature eliminates the need to model a skeleton in clay, which is a laborious, time consuming, and frankly, somewhat pointless exercise for the average artist. The muscled side of the armature provides helpful clues to mass and form of each muscle, as well as eliminates the need to sculpt two of everything. in addition, each student models the muscles of the face separately, on a full sized plaster skull.

Each course session is comprised of a two hour lecture and demonstration, given as students build up their ecorche figures alongside me, one muscle at a time. Various media, 3D computer models, and anatomy texts are utilized during the course, as well as a full sized skeleton.

Private ecorche lessons are 600 Euros, which includes all materials. For an additional fee, students may have the option of keeping their study, though generally the ecorche armatures and clay are reused by the studio.