• Intermediate
  • Painting

This course is designed specifically for experienced or upper-level students who wish to focus on conceptual development of their figurative work. Students will become aware of the idea of “the subject” when working with the figure. Historical and contemporary themes on the use of the figure will be studied. Students will investigate and understand why they use the figure and how they are most interested in using it as a means of expression and communication. This course is not exclusively for painters: students working in all media are welcome. Although this course is conceptually driven, consideration will also be given to process, media handling and formalism/design within students’ work in order to best achieve the desired outcome. Emphasis will be placed on getting students to use in-class set-ups & model poses as a launching point for creating images that are uniquely their own. Development of students’ individual approach of the figure will be paramount, as well as, furthering each student’s ability to use source imagery and set-ups for their own image development. The class will be working with nude or costumed models. There will be 2 poses/set-ups in total; each approximately 4 classes in length, to allow for the full development of an idea and a fully resolved image or group of images. Set-ups will encourage both single and multi-figure compositions.

Students are expected to have a solid foundation of figure painting skills. It is recommended that students have taken coursework in basic painting, life drawing and/or life painting, and image development, or equivalent.


8 Weeks: Tuitiion: $355 + Model Fee: $90 =  Total: $445

PLEASE NOTE:  Due to COVID 19, special policies and regulations will apply.  Students must be in agreement with these health and safety regulations and TSA's policies in order to enrol.

Notes: Gillian Iles' practice consists of painting, sculpture and video/projection. She has exhibited in New York, San Francisco, Brooklyn, Chicago, Miami, Montreal and Toronto in public institutions, university galleries, artist-run centres and commercial galleries. Her work has been highlighted in Canadian Art, Mix Magazine, Toronto Life Magazine, as well as the National Post and The Globe and Mail. She is featured in the book Carte Blanche Volume 2: Painting. Gillian was a founding member of two artist-run galleries in Toronto - Propeller and Loop, and is currently a member of the Red Head Gallery in Toronto. Her environmental scale installations include combinations of paintings, sculptures, constructions video and projection, creating installations incorporating both real and illusionary space, transforming exhibition spaces into a composite of alternate realities. The composite imagery presents an array of contradictions as a sensory collage of fleeting instants that shape greater social identity & individual perception. Gillian teaches at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Sheridan College and the Toronto School of Art in Canada.
* This course is not currently open for registration

What you will learn

Students will address and gain a better understanding of:

  • What draws them to use the figure as a subject in their work.
  • Identifying how they naturally approach the figure and refinement of that ideation & process.
  • How they are most interested in using the figure as a means of expression and communication and consideration of content, design and surface.
  • The different opportunities (conceptually and compositionally) between a single and multi-figure composition.
  • Greater insight into working conceptually with the figure in their own self-directed practice.