The Academy of LVA

Registration for the Fall 2025 semester will start August 1.

The Academy Fall 2025 Schedule
LVA Family and Patron Level Memberships receive 10% off The Academy of LVA classes. Become a Member.
Give the gift of art with an Academy Gift Certificate

 The Academy of LVA is Louisville's premier pre-professional art program for high school students, under the umbrella of the Children’s Fine Art Classes program. Founded in 1925, its mission is to provide intensive, in-depth art experiences for talented and motivated art students. When preparing the curriculum for The Academy, LVA looked at the National Core Art Standards and also had conversations with the top art universities around the country to ensure our Academy students would exceed their expectations. When asked what they were looking for in applicants, their answer was consistent across the board: "We want students who go beyond exhibiting technical skill and talent. Applicants should have both a style and voice unifying their work and should be able to discuss their work conceptually." By completing junior and senior level classes with The Academy, students should be a top choice candidate for universities and arts schools around the country. 

The Academy of LVA runs for 10 weeks each spring and 10 weeks each fall. Classes are two hours, to allow for in-depth art making and thorough critiques. To maximize their experience, students should expect to spend one to two hours outside of the classroom each week researching artists and universities, working on projects, visiting galleries or writing about their work. We want The Academy experience to go beyond the classroom doors.

Each year, Louisville Visual Art hosts a gallery exhibit of the work from The Academy of LVA. Each year's student has work on display, providing them a chance to see their work in an exhibition and to share that experience with their families. Students have the option to sell their own artwork.

During the opening reception of the exhibition, LVA honors our graduating students with the Senior Night Awards Ceremony. Each year, one outstanding Senior will receive the LVA Vision Award, including a $500 scholarship. Students will be recognized for the levels of classes they have completed in the program and Community Awards will be presented.

Need based scholarship forms for the Fall 2025 semester will open August 1st. Financial Aid is available in the form of sliding scale scholarships for those who exhibit financial need — please send in the information on the check list and fill out this form (the checklist and the form are both on the Scholarship Application page and will be available August 1st and closed August 25th) to be considered by our Education Committee.

Our FAQ page goes over a lot of extra information.

Printmaking

Printmaking is a course exploring in-depth experiences in the four basic methods of graphic images: relief, intaglio, planography, and serigraphy at introductory, intermediate and advanced levels. Traditional techniques in creating printed images are introduced along with cross-disciplinary approaches and hybrid processes. Increased understanding and knowledge of printmaking history, traditions, art criticism, and aesthetic quality are additional components of the course. This range of curriculum allows students to gain skill and mastery of emerging technology as well as traditional techniques in the field of printmaking, equipping them with necessary skill sets. Students are challenged technically and conceptually through the printmaking process to succeed at their artistic vision.

Drawing & Painting 1

Drawing and Painting 1 is an introductory class providing instruction in both drawing and painting, focusing on working from still life objects. The drawing curriculum provides experience in basic drawing principles including; line, value, and space using a variety of media and subjects. Students will receive instruction on the importance of perspective, proportion, gesture, line, and depth. The painting curriculum will introduce the painting process, incorporating the importance of value relationships and paint handling. Simple compositions will lead to various painting approaches where multiple brushes, painting mediums and surfaces will be demonstrated. Through this course, students will learn to successfully depict objects and forms.

Drawing 2

Drawing 2 builds upon instruction from Drawing and Painting 1. The curriculum provides the opportunity to work with a wide range of different medias, focusing on the use of graphite, charcoal, oil pastels, colored pencils, mixed media and collage. Students will gain a deeper understanding of line, value and space through a variety of media and subjects along with composition, perspective, proportion, focal point, and the use of light and shadow. Processes include study from life, work from imagination, invention and experimentation.

Studio Art

Studio Art is an introductory course designed to provide students education in the foundations of art making and critical thinking. It provides artists with the tools needed to advance and helps focus the skills of those who already have artistic experience. The curriculum in this course provides instruction in drawing, painting and mixed media. The drawing curriculum provides experience in line, value, and space using a variety of media and subjects. The painting curriculum provides students an opportunity to investigate color and painting techniques in watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media. An examination of historical and contemporary artwork and suggested gallery visits will correspond to assignments.

Painting 2

Painting 2 builds upon instruction from Drawing and Painting 1 – focusing on the study of portraits and still life utilizing both acrylic and oil paints. The curriculum provides opportunities for experimentation with painting on a variety of different textures and provides further knowledge of a variety of tools, including palette knives and specialty brushes. This course is a comprehensive study of the principals of composition, staging, line, pattern, value, tone, and color theories. Emphasis is placed on the creative process from concept to completed work.

Illustration

(held in the Fall Semester only)

Intro to Traditional Illustration A picture is worth a thousand words, but how do you create one? In this course introducing the art of illustration, students will learn the history of the art and how to create compelling compositions to carry their message. Through color theory, character design, and symbolism, this class will guide students over the course of ten weeks through crafting several portfolio-ready explorations of storytelling in the medium of their choosing. This class is required before taking Visual Storytelling (which will be held in the spring at this same time and location).

Visual Storytelling - A Dive into Sequential Art

(held in the Spring Semester only)

Sequential Art is defined as any series of images that tell a story or convey a message. In this intensive course, use physical mediums to tell a story from beginning to end. Students will create a portfolio-ready story either in the form of Storyboards, Illustrations, or Comic Pages over the course of ten weeks learning the subtle but powerful art of visual storytelling. (Intro to Traditional Illustration is required before this taking class).

Questions? Try the FAQ and then contact:

Annette Cable, annette@louisvillevisualart.org 502-584-8166