Pont Aven School of Contemporary Art (PASCA) was an art school in Pont Aven France, founded in 1993 by art historian Caroline Boyle-Turner as an international fine arts program for advanced under-graduate and post-graduate studies. It was a private,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

fully accredited for undergraduate study through its affiliation with

Pacific Northwest College of Art The Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is an art school of Willamette University and is located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1909, the art school grants Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and graduate degrees including the Master of Fine ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. In 2011, the school closed its doors. Junior year, undergraduate coursework delivered during the 15-week/15-credit study abroad semester at PASCA was accredited through Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. Courses satisfied National Association of Schools of Art and Design requirements for 300 level studio, art history/critical studies and French culture and language classes. Each term the curriculum had these potential course options: • A 2-D studio (can include painting, drawing, print) • A 3-D studio (can include sculpture, installation, site work) • A 4-D studio (time-based strategies that may include video, performance, photo, digital) • An Art History/Critical Studies offering • French Culture and Language study • Two five-day faculty-led cultural site seminars, to Paris/Berlin and either Venice in Biennale years, or Madrid/Barcelona, or London ]. A shorter summer session was available as well. The campus included

studios A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery ( ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

, exhibition spaces, IT labs, and

libraries A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...

. Students visited the contemporary art scenes of Paris, London and Berlin. The art school was located in the small town of

Pont-Aven Pont-Aven (, Breton: 'River Bridge') is a commune in the Finistère department in the Brittany region in Northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 2,821. Demographics Inhabitants of Pont-Aven are called ''Pontavenistes'' in French ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

- since the 19th century one of the favorite summer working places of Paris-based artists and art students like

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

Paul Sérusier Paul Sérusier (9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabis movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism. Education Sérusier was born in Paris. He studied ...

Émile Bernard Émile Henri Bernard (28 April 1868 – 16 April 1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and writer, who had artistic friendships with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch, and at a later time, Paul Cézanne. Most of his nota ...

, as well as

Maurice de Vlaminck Maurice de Vlaminck (4 April 1876 – 11 October 1958) was a French painter. Along with André Derain and Henri Matisse, he is considered one of the principal figures in the Fauve movement, a group of modern artists who from 1904 to 1908 we ...

and

Camille Claudel Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...

. Since these heroic days,

Pont-Aven School Pont-Aven School (french: École de Pont-Aven, br, Skol Pont Aven) encompasses works of art influenced by the Breton town of Pont-Aven and its surroundings. Originally the term applied to works created in the artists' colony at Pont-Aven, which s ...

became a brand covering a broad variety of artists busy in the region. In partnership with CIAC-Pont Aven, the school hosted and sponsored a wide range of contemporary art exhibits, solo, duo, and group exhibitions by an international cohort of professional artists. Notable artists included, Dawn Clements
Bruce Stiglich

Wendy Edwards Wendy Edwards (born 1950) is an American artist known for vibrant, tactile paintings rooted in organic forms and landscape, which have ranged from representation and figuration to free-form abstraction.McQuaid, Cate"The lush, feminine paintings ...

Melissa FerreiraNana Gregory
Sam Walsh
David EckardJohn K Melvin
and hi
Aven ProjectGilles MahéFred of the WoodDagmar Hemmerich
Cristina de Melo
Milena MartinovicNik Vlahos
Robin Hill, and many more artists spanning 18 years of operation. 18 years of student enrollment also produced end-of-semester group art exhibitions, where between 10 to 20 students per semester showed work, every 5 to 15 weeks of every year.

External links

PASCA website

www.artschools-europe.org {{authority control Art schools in France Educational institutions established in 1993 Education in France 1993 establishments in France