Artistic Challenge #3

We are very excited to present you with our third challenge, a STILL LIFE!

From today APRIL 11 to MAY 31 we will be accepting entries of a still life either drawn, painted or sculpted in any medium!

Send a high resolution jpg to social@florenceacademyofart.com. Please include your full name, the size, title, and medium of the artwork, and feel free to include a short artist bio, we want to learn more about who you are!

One winner will receive an ART PRINT, and a personalized critique by an FAA Principal Instructor sent privately via email, and, along with the two runners-up, will receive shoutouts from The Florence Academy of Art and The FAA Collective on social media! Winners will be announced JUNE 19 by email.

What makes a still life?

The earliest still lifes recorded date back to Ancient Egyptian depictions of food in burial sites from the 15th century BCE. Similar early types of still lifes, which in many ways do not differ too greatly from those made even today, can also be found in mosaics and frescos by Ancient Greeks and Romans. Still life is a broad genre of painting, “natura morta” in Italian, which directly translates to “dead nature,” and as could be guessed it was traditionally the practice of depicting “still” or “dead” natural subjects, usually food. However, the genre has generally expanded to meaning the depiction of still objects (of any kind), and even sometimes living ones such as flowers, in a composition! Historically, the particular selection of objects by the painter has been used to convey far more complex symbolic and narrative meanings based on the specific objects, their relation to each other and the overall composition, and often even more!

At The Florence Academy of Art, full-time painting students begin their first still life in the Advanced Painting program, where it is the students’ first opportunity to confront composition, fully control the light source, and demonstrate sound painting technique while depicting more than one subject. Throughout this Painting season on The FAA Collective we will be spotlighting several paintings by FAA Collective artists, showcasing different types of still life paintings being made by working artists today! Be it a natural depiction of food on a surface, a Dutch Golden Age styled vanitas painting, a floral arrangement, an elaborate Trompe-l’oiel, and others beyond and in-between, still life artworks hold an important place in the history of art as well as in the contemporary art world.

Need some inspiration to get started?

Check out our Alumni and Student Galleries on the FAA website where there is a large selection of still life paintings to view!

We look forward to seeing what you create, good luck and “Buon lavoro!”