Painting: Materials, Methods, Aesthetics with Prof. Joe Coco, MFA

Learn from a master!

Prof. Coco will help you examine famous paintings in both acrylic and oil, describing how the artists applied the paints, the differences between artists’ methods, and aesthetics. You will also learn about how brushes, canvas, and pigments are manufactured; pigment and solvent chemistry; linen vs. canvas types and uses; and types of brushes and their different applications. For comparison, ancient materials and tools will be discussed.

You will then work on your own small canvases for an hour in acrylic, then a separate hour in oils. Prof Coco will spend time with each person and help you as needed.

A critique discussing composition resolution and follow through will end the program. An analysis of symmetry, color tonality, and use of symbolism will also be taking place.

Joseph Coco, a native of Passaic, New Jersey, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Northern Arizona University as well as a Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University – Mason Gross. His art is in the collections of California’s MOMA-SF, LA County & DeYoung Museums; New York’s Whitney & Guggenheim; Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art & Museum Of Fine Art; Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia, Allentown, & Michener Museums; New Jersey’s Newark, Rutgers-Zimmerli, Paterson & Lambert Castle Museums. As a versatile and prolific singer/songwriter, he has 800 songs and 58 albums to his name and has performed at New York’s Folk City, L.A.’s Troubadour, Switzerland’s Atlantis Club, Sicily’s prestigious Capo D’ Orlando Blues Festival, and Rome’s Teatro Sistina.

This program is made possible by a grant from the Warren County Division of Cultural & Heritage Affairs.