Adae Fine Art Academy

Art Classes

How Our Art Classes Work

Founded in 2005, the Adae Fine Art Academy is a sun-drenched independent art studio located on the first floor of 840 State Street in New Haven, CT. We provide individualized art instruction in all levels and media of drawing and painting. Each artist is provided their own easel workstation and are encouraged to work in the media and subject matter of their choice.  We offer classes for adults during the week and classes for children on Saturdays. 

Tuition

Tuition is $40 per class. The cost of an eight-week session of classes is $320.  If you sign up with a friend or family member in any class you each receive a free class discounting the cost of an 8-week session to $280.  

Adult Art Classes – Hours

  • Monday morning from 10:00am-12:00pm 
  • Wednesday evening from 6:00-8:00pm
  • Thursday evening from 6:00pm-8:00pm

Children’s Art Classes – Hours (Ages 7 & Up)

  • Saturday morning from 10:00am-12:00pm
  • Saturday afternoon from 12:00pm-2:00pm

Summer Artist Immersion Program (Ages 7 & Up)

  • For one week in July we offer our Art Immersion Program (like an art summer day camp)
  • Our young artists are invited to use the art studio every day for a week
  • Students must bring a bag lunch
  • Monday through Friday 10:00am-5:00pm
  • $400 for the week

What we teach:

Our fine art classes offer individualized instruction in graphite, charcoal, pencil, chalk & oil pastel drawing media; and watercolor, acrylic, and oil painting in only the adult classes. There are no beginner, intermediate, or advanced classes; each week everyone gets their own individual lesson in a group setting. You can see the diversity in artistic style, media, and individualized course of study by viewing our student artwork gallery.  

What is included with our art classes:

  • Studio space access and professional art instruction
  • Mabef Italian Lyre A Frame Easels 
  • A library of art books and resource materials
  • Newsprint, sketch paper, watercolor paper, drawing paper. 
  • Basic watercolor sets, acrylic paint, oil paint, brushes and palettes
  • Graphite pencils, colored pencils, erasers, tortillons (blending tools) painter’s tape
  • Instructions on how to construct, prime, and stretch canvases
  • Note* As a safety precaution due the covid-19 pandemic, we have been strongly encouraging students to bring their own supplies to reduce the probability of virus transmission.

What is not included:

  • We do not stock canvases, canvas boards, or wood panels for oil or acrylic painting.
  • Special mixing mediums for oil paint or special colors for individual projects.
  • 9×12 inch canvases are the one size we keep in stock due to their popularity, they may be purchased at the art studio for $10 each

Our Free Trial Art Lesson:

We have a beautiful art studio full of gorgeous artworks and a plethora of happy plants.  The absolute best way to experience our art classes is to come to the art studio for a free trial lesson. 

Our Art Classes Have A Maximum Class Size of 11 Students. 

About the Staff

Kwadwo Adae is the Founder, Director, & Head Instructor of Adae Fine Art Academy; he earned his Masters of Arts in Painting from New York University in 2005. He is an award-winning, visual artist fluent in all languages of drawing and painting; and as an international muralist that has designed and installed eighteen mural projects in the Greater New Haven community since 2014. Additionally, he has orchestrated three international collaborative mural projects with children in India, Guatemala, and Ecuador. 

Adae is strongly committed to contributing to the discourse of public art that amplifies the voices of the underserved by focusing his artistic endeavors in predominantly Black & Brown communities that were subjected to decades of discriminatory redlining housing policies. His domestic public artwork speaks directly to themes of social justice, racial equality, women’s rights, anti-police brutality, environmental justice, and anti-gun violence initiatives.

Subsequently, his international public artworks are focused on the art of decolonization by amplifying the voices of the indigenous in places formerly subject to cultural erasure by European colonial powers. Adae is a guided meditation practitioner at One Village Healing, a wellness space in New Haven primarily for BIPOC who seek healing and wellness from systemic white supremacist oppressive spaces. 

Take art classes with Kwadwo Adae, MA Painting, NYU
Take art classes with Kwadwo Adae, MA Painting, NYU

Kwasi Adae is our Creative Director & Muralist, he is a prolific visual artist that has been studying drawing and painting techniques at the Adae Fine Art Academy since its inception.  Honing his studio art practice for over a decade, he has assisted in the orchestration and installation of 11 public art projects in New Haven for the last eight years. 

Kwasi Adae

Sign Up for a Free Trial Lesson!

Thanks so much for your interest in the Adae Fine Art Academy! New students are invited to fill in this form and we’ll contact you to schedule a free two-hour trial lesson at our State Street studio.