Bill Drew first became interested in Renaissance painting as a student in RISD’s European Honors Program in Rome, Italy in 1969. As an abstract painter, this art continued to inform his paintings, and in 1980 he was awarded a Fulbright-Hays grant to Italy for painting and conduct independent research on Renaissance painting techniques.
Drew is a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design and for twenty-five years he conducted a “Techniques of Renaissance Painting” travel class for RISD students where they viewed first-hand great examples of Renaissance painting in Venice, Florence and Rome after having had first-hand experience in the methods and techniques of Renaissance painting.
He has lectured in numerous colleges and museums, and in 1994 was awarded a special residency by the government of Pakistan to deliver a series of lectures regarding the similarities between the painting techniques of late-medieval and early Renaissance paintings and traditional Mughal paintings of the 15th and 16th Centuries.
To this day, Bill Drew’s painting continues to be informed by the painting methods invented by Renaissance artists and the universal designs embedded in Renaissance art.
Elizabeth Wicks’ art conservation studio is in the center of Florence Italy (https://conservart.info/), where she restores fine art from ancient to contemporary. With over thirty years in the field, Wicks directs conservation projects for museums, churches and public properties, as well as for private clients. She also consults regularly on conservation projects in the United States.
Wicks has a BA in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from Hamilton/Kirkland Colleges. She was a recipient of the Florence Fellowship for Graduate Studies in Italian Renaissance Art with Syracuse University, and completed her art conservation degree (MFA) at Dominican University in Florence. Wicks also has a post-specialization at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Pisa, with a research project on calcium oxalate patinas on marble monuments. She is co-president of the Women’s International Network in Florence, she teaches in the five-year MA program in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage of the University of Viterbo (UNITUS), she has published numerous articles on conservation and is a member of the conservation committee of the International Council of Museums. The BBC recently featured her restoration of Allegory of Inclination: Artemesia Gentileschi: Revealing the True Beauty of a Censored Painting.
Colombian/Italian practising artist and cultural manager with over 25 years as a teacher and university professor. He was Tenured Professor at the Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano, 2011-2020, where he created and coordinated the Masters in Fine Arts Program from 2015-2017. Currently he lives and works in Madrid Spain, where he directs the artist-run space Casa 4 Madrid.
Richard Gann has been making and using tempera, tempera emulsions, and encaustic for forty years. He teaches Artistic Media and Digital Painting in the Illustration department at the Rhode Island School of Design, as well as drawing in the freshman year. He served as interim vice provost in 2022 and 2023.
He designed and implemented the Web and Digital Design program at Johnson & Wales University, where he served as an assistant professor. At the Rhode Island School of Design, he has developed a digital educational experiences that integrate the foundational concepts of Renaissance painting with digital technologies.
Gann maintains studios in Brooklyn, New York, and Rhode Island, where he creates contemporary abstract landscapes using the traditional method of egg-oil emulsion, combining historical techniques with contemporary practice.