A Brief History
Academy of Art Canada adopted its current name in July 2007. Since its unofficial inception in 1992 it has outgrown three previous locations. Coinciding with this name change, the learning center (formerly, the College Street Studio) has acquired for its new home a vintage two-story brick building in the city's central core. From our previous location on College Street in the 1990s, we moved (as of September 2007) our fine arts school to its new home on Davenport Road at Laughton Avenue near the Foundry Lofts at the top of the railroad corridor on the eastern edge of Toronto's west-end Dundas Junction Arts district. The AAC school is similar to a small number of select art programs in Europe and the U.S. and is currently Canada's longest operating traditional academy of realist art.
Its comprehensive, three-level program suits discerning students who wish not only to increase their grasp of the fundamentals of art-making, but also to develop their understanding and appreciation of realist painting as a language of poetic expression - a traditional fine art school minutes north of Toronto's Bloor Street, creating works of art learning in part by studying historical old master oil painting techniques as the masters utilized them for their museum quality picture making.
A Canadian academy of realist art of international reputation, Academy of Art Canada is an atelier with students of all ages at all levels, working side by side in a positive learning atmosphere, surrounded by a good cast collection of antique and Renaissance sculpture and a good amount of natural north light. The atmosphere is friendly and warm and the instruction is sincere and professional.
