Nelson Shanks

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When Nelson Shanks set out to become a painter, he pieced together his own education and training from the limited options available for the study of realist painting. As an 18-year-old student at New York’s famed Art Students League, he earned his tuition by serving as a monitor in the classes of artists such as Robert Brackman, Ivan Olinsky and Edwin Dickinson. Established painters such as John Koch took him on as a private student and provided substantial material as well as spiritual support of his dreams and aspirations.

His skill in capturing the complex nature of his clients has contributed to his fame as well. Among his notable commissions are President William Jefferson Clinton; Diana, Princess of Wales and Charles, Lord Spencer; and His Holiness Pope John Paul II. Other significant commissions include Luciano Pavarotti for the Metropolitan Opera, Mstislav Rostropovich for the Kennedy Center, and Denyce Graves for the National Portrait Gallery.

In the late 1990s, Nelson launched a successful series of workshops in response to the growing need for serious art instruction. The need for students to immerse themselves deeply in his teaching principles was made clear by the high demand and extensive oversubscriptions to these workshops, which led to the decision to open a full time atelier program, aptly named Studio Incamminati, which can be translated from Italian as "those who are progressing”.