DRAWING CENTER STUDIO

The Measured Figure: Observation & Structure in Figure Painting
A 3-day Intensive Workshop with Joe Morzuch


April 17 - 19, 2026  (Friday - Sunday)

Friday, 6-10pm, Lecture & Demonstration
Saturday, 10am - 5pm, Workshop
Sunday, 10am - 5pm, Workshop

(1 hour lunch break each day)

Early Registration Deadline (discounted): March 17, 2026

[ REGISTER HERE ]

Tuition

Early Registration by March 17, 2026
$385 (Student Rate: $327 with valid student ID*)

Regular Registration by April 16, 2026
$480 (Student Rate: $408 with valid student ID*)

* 15% discount student rates offered only with valid academic student i.d. We will contact you to obtain verification in advance of the workshop.




Description

This intensive weekend workshop focuses on painting the figure from life with an emphasis on perceptual sighting, measuring, and spatial accuracy. Working in oil, participants will explore multiple strategies for analyzing the human form and translating three-dimensional space into balanced, dynamic two-dimensional compositions. Through both limited and full palette approaches, students will develop greater confidence in proportion, structure, tonal unity, and chromatic relationships.

Participants will paint from the live model throughout the weekend, engaging in thoughtful composing, tonal and color matching, and careful observation, set up within Manifest's classic main figure drawing studio.

Joe Morzuch's instruction emphasizes a range of sighting and measuring techniques—including angles, proportional relationships, triangulation, and the use of proportional dividers—to help artists more clearly interpret and represent the figure and the space it occupies. Equal attention is given to understanding value and color relationships, paint handling, surface resolution, and developing a personal approach to mark-making.

The workshop begins Friday evening with a public artist talk/lecture and demonstration, introducing key concepts and tools used throughout the weekend. Saturday and Sunday combine short lectures with sustained studio work, allowing participants to complete multiple figure paintings while receiving individualized feedback. Topics include planar analysis, form simplification, earth-color triads, full-palette strategies, and achieving a high degree of consistent resolution.

Class Size

Maximum: 15

Level of Study — Intermediate

This workshop is best suited for artists with prior experience in observational drawing and painting who are seeking to strengthen their perceptual skills, technical clarity, and ability to solve complex visual problems through paint.

AREA ACCOMMODATIONS FOR THOSE TRAVELING TO ATTEND

For those traveling to Cincinnati to attend this visiting artist workshop, there are many exciting or practical options for accommodations. For a special stay within a mile of Manifest's new facility, we would recommend checking with The Clifton House Bed & Breakfast* (https://thecliftonhouse.com), The Gaslight Bed & Breakfast (https://www.gaslightbb.com), or Six Acres Bed & Breakfast (http://sixacresbb.com). Alternatively, the 21c Museum Hotel is in the heart of downtown just four miles from our location (link). Many other common hotels are within a few miles of our location as well.

*We have confirmed that the Clifton House will honor a special discounted rate for Manifest workshop participants when rooms are available.

LOCATION: Unless otherwise specified, all courses are hosted at Manifest's new facility at 'M1' in Clifton at 3464 Central Parkway (see map and directions below). Manifest's new facility provides multiple studio classrooms, private lesson space, a darkroom, a film processing room, and a multi-purpose lecture and class meeting space as well as on-site parking, grounds, and exterior spaces in which to relax, discuss, and make art. The studios are outfitted with professional equipment, furniture, and study aids.

Map to Manifest's M1 Studios   |   Studio Calendar   |   Darkroom Calendar

Manifest's new home on Central Parkway is a historic 1932 structure ideally suited to the various programs of the Manifest Drawing Center (and future Manifest Gallery). Even now, mostly unchanged from 93 years ago, it serves as a playful collaborator in our educational mission. Students and guests are inspired by both the content of our programs, and the spaces in which they occur.

Works by Joe Morzuch

About the instructor:

Joe Morzuch is an observational painter currently residing in Starkville, Mississippi. In addition to his studio work, which deals primarily with the still life and self-portrait, he is an Associate Professor and Painting Area Coordinator at Mississippi State University. He has taught at the college level for more than 20 years, including courses in foundations, drawing, and painting.

Joe received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2002 from Western Illinois University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in 2006 from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His work appeared in the publication New American Paintings #148, and has been exhibited in group exhibitions nation-wide and abroad at such venues as The Painting Center in New York, The Mall Galleries in London, and Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati. Solo and two-person exhibitions have included Table and Shelf at 155A Gallery in London, Marking Time at The Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, and Paintings at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He is a member of the artist collective Zeuxis: An Association of Still Life Painters.

Morzuch's work bridges the measured structural clarity associated with Euan Uglow and the sustained observational intensity of Antonio López García, while retaining the forthright planar construction of early analytical Cubism. It occupies a fertile intersection between rigorous looking and modernist structural awareness, an alignment that resonates deeply with Manifest’s core commitments.

Joe's work is represented by 155A Gallery in London and Tregony Contemporary in St. Mawes, Cornwall.