BY MARC WALDMAN

PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEFAN SIEGEL

BARNSTONE PAINTS
a path for students
Mryon Barnstone in his studio.

50 January|February 2007
M
yron Barnstone might be
running one of the most
successful trade schools in
North America, and it’s right here
in the Lehigh Valley. He has made
it his life’s work to improve the
state of fine art education, which
he feels has deteriorated to a point
where students are no longer being
equipped with the tools they need
to compete and succeed at the
highest level. That’s why he created
his trade school, The Barnstone
Studios. He is devoted to systems
of classical design, and has a knack
for doing things on his own terms.
Referring to his beginnings as an
art teacher in the late ‘60s, Barnstone
comments, “Seeking work as an
art teacher, I found that after more
than a century of rapidly changing
‘isms,’ art teachers had given up the
task of actually teaching and spoke
only of creativity and the creative
process, none of which taught
students the difference between
an apple and a drawing of an apple
by a trained artist.” In other words,
while creativity is indeed part of
the process, there is a set of skills
that need to be understood before
one begins to interpret what one
sees. For example, an architect
envisions a building, but has to
create blueprints in order to actually
build the building; otherwise, it is a
vision unrealized. Barnstone adds,
“The difference is simply this: the
appearance of an apple will not
teach you principles, design systems,
structures, proportioning systems
and forty five thousand years of
heritage of classical drawing.”
When asked about the current
public efforts in arts education,
he is angry at the lack of attention
to classical training. “For 60 years
art teachers have not been trained
in drawing and classical design.
Universities teach by committee
with teachers in separate rooms that
have varying opinions on what to
teach,” he comments. But while it
could have been easy to sit back, be
Student Jessica Potter carefully
sights perspectives for her
drawing of a live model.
angry and bemoan the lack of attention to teaching fine art and its value, in
1977 Myron Barnstone decided to change it. He describes his philosophy about
teaching quite simply saying, “One of the Greek philosophers said that ‘The
image of a school is a tutor and a child under a tree.’ How wonderfully simple.
(There is) All this talk of more money per student in the public education
system when all you need is a little shelter, a tutor and an interested child.”
After a successful career as a painter in Europe, and stints teaching at
Moravian College and The Baum School of Art, he opened The Barnstone
Studios, and for the last 29 years has been running one of the most unique
trade schools in North America. He started with a 10,000-square-foot studio
space at 915 Hamilton St. in Allentown, and followed with his current
location, a former knitting mill in Coplay. Most trade schools offer small
class sizes, a year or two of study in your chosen field and the chance for
success at the next level, as does Barnstone Studios. What makes the school
unique is Barnstone’s method of teaching and the success of his students.
At this trade school the curriculum is classic design techniques, traditional
drawing and color theory handed down by centuries of fine art masters,
and every student is under the tutelage of one instructor. Upon moving
on, his students are finding full scholarships at the finest art institutions in
the United States and moving quickly through their chosen fields armed
with knowledge and training that is simply not taught anywhere else.
And his students’ success is consistent.
A Picture of Success
Since opening his studio, Myron Barnstone’s students have received
hundreds of national awards, over $3.2 million in scholarships (over
$516,000 in 2001 alone) and grants to schools such as the Savannah
College of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Carnegie
Mellon University, Boston University and many others. They also go on
to work as designers for companies like Nike and Nine West, and become
master architects, art teachers and successful fine artists. All of which
surprisingly has happened quietly, and without much recognition from
the media and the arts community. For example, if Myron Barnstone
was coaching football, he would be receiving national attention, and
Lehigh Valley Magazine 51
 college recruiters and NFL scouts would be following his every move. She was right. The American
A typical Barnstone success story is Kelsey Christman of New Tripoli. Church jumped at the chance to
Who studied with Barnstone as a teenager. Armed with her portfolio exhibit his work and had the perfect
of work she was accepted at The Fashion Institute of Technology in space in which to present it: the
Manhattan and told that her work was above the level of their graduate catacombs of the church where
students. After only two years at the school, Tommy Hilfiger hired her as during World War II the bodies of
a senior designer. After one year with Hilfiger she decided to pursue her slain American servicemen were
passion for shoe design. She researched the industry, found an opportunity stored while waiting to be sent
with shoe manufacturer Nine West and is now their top designer. This home. Suddenly, after being unable
is considerable success for someone just three years out of high school, to gain a traditional gallery show,
but this trajectory is common among former Barnstone students. Barnstone was given a budget and
So why do very few people know about Barnstone and his studio? How did a staff to turn the basement of a
he end up in the Lehigh Valley? The answers lie in Barnstone’s journey from church that had housed the most
being a young artist in Paris to a dedicated teacher in the Lehigh Valley. horrific results of war into a gallery
to display his work that depicted the
The Fine Art of Teaching horrors of war. Ironically, his work
Born in 1933, he began his formal arts education in the ‘50s while still that chronicled the worst aspects
in elementary school at The Portland School of Fine and Applied Arts in of the human experience would be
Portland, Maine. In high school he was briefly instructed by Ed Engman, seen in a space that was forced to
a sculptor who went on to become the chair of the art department at The play host to it. As a result, it provided
University of Pennsylvania. After an encouraging time with Engman in high a unique venue to tell the story.
school, he had a disappointing year in Boston seeking instruction in drawing. Barnstone and his wife set
Barnstone had found, “that serious instruction in drawing was no longer about promoting the show. His
available. The climate of the times insisted that drawing was a ‘passion- wife visited every gallery that had
out-of fashion.’” He then joined the Air Force during the Korean Conflict shown interest in his work, and
and spent the next four years bouncing from Alaska to Japan and Texas. astonishingly the galleries helped
Determined to follow his passion for an education in drawing, Barnstone assemble an invitation list that
took advantage of the G.I. Bill to attend The Ruskin School of Drawing at included the hierarchy of the Parisian
Oxford University in England. There he found the skills and training he desired art community. The show, which
in classical design systems, and after a move to Spain, began to produce featured his paintings and drawings,
paintings that would lead him to eventual success as an artist and a teacher. was a smash. According to Barnstone,
After spending four years painting in Spain, Barnstone felt a move to “On opening night, out came notable
Paris was in order to help further his career. He set up a studio in Paris and, gallery directors and artists. What
“basically locked myself in a room for a year and painted.” His influences a show of support.” It opened in
at the time were works by the likes of Swiss surrealist painter and sculptor December of 1965, and by demand,
Alberto Giacometti and the painter Francis Bacon, both of whom had found the show’s run was extended
success in Paris. After his year of self-imposed isolation, he emerged with six weeks after its initial run.
about 20 large oil paintings depicting war and its consequences in a graphic French national television came
manner. Highly abstract figures of war victims in bold colors filled his calling and aired an interview
canvases, depicting mankind at its worst. He then set out to exhibit his work. with him regarding the show and
He had a friend whose father had been a close friend of John O’Hara, its impact. It aired nationally
the famed novelist and short story writer from Pottsville, Pa. and who in France as well as in Belgium,
Barnstone was told was well connected in Paris and provided him Holland, West Germany and
with letters of recommendation for gallery directors. However, these parts of Spain. He had taken on
connections proved futile, as most of the contacts were outdated. He Paris and found success in an
then had no choice but to canvas the Paris galleries himself, in hopes unorthodox way, on his own terms.
of gaining an exhibition. “I toured all of Paris and located five galleries Next was a successful show of his
that were obvious, ideal locations and my work would look good on drawings at the prestigious Galerie
their walls.” While his work was well received he learned that there was Lumiere, which also was showing
a limited amount of available gallery space and a limited amount of famed sculptors Alberto Giacometti
time in which galleries exhibited seasonally. While the possibility of an and Henry Moore. His work was
exhibition looked promising, it could take several years to happen, and as selling, galleries shows were coming
an expatriate there was no work to support his stay. He realized his time easily, he was on the cover of
in Paris would eventually come to an end simply for financial reasons. magazines, “and I was having the
Then he caught a break. He learned that the director at The American time of my life. You’re not going
Student Center in Paris was the daughter of the then governor of Maine. to support yourself as a painter in
With a common background, the two struck up a conversation that lead to Europe, but we were doing pretty
Barnstone showing her his work. Immediately, she directed him to contact well,” he recalls. But then he adds, “It
the wife of the pastor of The American Church of Paris, a traditional, cultural also became apparent (financially)
meeting place for American expatriates (albeit more for social reasons that we couldn’t stay any longer.”
than religious reasons). Her thought was that an anti-war statement by an He had a young daughter and quite
American artist and an American organization, presented at the height of simply needed to move where he
the cold war, would create an impact and immediate attention in Paris. could work and support his family.

52 January|February 2007
 meant moving to the United States.
Building Barnstone
He and his wife had decided
on moving somewhere close to
Manhattan. In an odd twist of fate,
the Lehigh Valley can thank his
daughter, Ben Franklin, FDR and the
government’s communist paranoia
of the ‘60s for Myron Barnstone
landing here. During the depression
FDR implemented The New Deal
Cultural Programs to employ artists
and writers, and one of them was an
ongoing program that had writers
producing books extolling the
attributes of various regions of the
United States. The programs faded as
artists, filmmakers and intellectuals
were soon being accused of being
communists. However, at The Ben
Franklin Library in Paris, Barnstone
and his wife discovered these books,
in particular one on Reading, Pa.,
in which the city received glowing
A student’s sketch of a live model.
reviews due in a large part to the
fact that in the ‘30s, Reading was
the only city in America that had
a communist mayor. Barnstone
chose it as a destination because
of these reviews, but when he flew
from Europe and visited Reading,
he found a depressed mill town.
He toured the region and found
Allentown, which he recalled,
“in 1966 was glowing. Hess’s was
thriving and people were all dressed
up on the streets. It was a pretty
place.” He found an apartment
at 13th and Hamilton and flew
back to Europe and returned
with his wife and daughter.
quickly found work at the Baum School of Art and Moravian College as
After a year and half he returned to England and again found work
teaching, but after eight years there he realized the only the way to
earn a living for himself and his daughter long-term was to settle in the
United States. He returned to Allentown and rejoined The Baum School
of Art and Moravian College, but only briefly. Barnstone realized that he
could only teach his way. He realized that what he was teaching would
only be effective in a one teacher, studio setting, and he put down his
paintbrush and began his second career as a teacher, on his terms.
He reconnected with Robert Hertz, a former student of his at the
Baum School who owned Junior Colony, a chain of about 150 women’s
clothing stores throughout the Northeast. Hertz rented him a studio
space on Hamilton Street in Allentown and Barnstone has never looked
back (Hertz eventually left Junior Colony to study with Barnstone and
became a successful painter and art teacher in Florida). His studio has
become a mecca for those who want to study fine art. Students halt
studies at major art schools and find their way to his studio, working
professionals find the time to study with him and teenagers find direction
and prepare for higher-level education, all under his watchful eye.
“I truly have the best job in the world. I started as a professional
painter exhibiting in Paris, London and this country. Circumstances
caused me to open my own school. My school has served
me, my daughter, and I hope, my students very well.”
It has.
Student Bill Stank holds out
a pair of dividers for a visual
check of scale during class.
Barnstone says, “Some of our students have won national fame.
Hundreds have attended the best art schools and universities in the
nation. To the best of my knowledge, all of the serious students that
have studied with me have thrived during their college years—so well
trained were they—and all have found rewarding work. Many of these
students keep in touch reporting their successes, exhibitions and joy.”
One might ponder if there is a let down from being the toast of Paris to
teaching students in a studio in Coplay. But when asked about his decision 29
years ago to give up painting and begin teaching, Barnstone simply retorts,
“I have 10,000 square feet of white studio space with 12-foot high ceilings
and dedicated students studying at a very high level. What more do I need?”
He also describes the joy of teaching on his terms, “You stand alone in
a room and hope people wish to study with you. You are either successful
or not. I like that challenge. If you’re not successful, you might as well be
on the corner selling apples.” For 30 years his classes have been full. LVM
For more information on The Barnstone Studios, please call 610-261-1030.
Lehigh Valley Magazine 53