Words of Wisdom

Words of Wisdom from the 2025 The Art of the Portrait Faculty Artists

- Kimberly Azzarito

The Portrait Society of America is thrilled to celebrate another exciting year of portraiture and figurative art during our 27th annual The Art of the Portrait conference in Washington, D.C., May 8 to 11. Our program this year features many new and returning faculty artists as well as our crowd favorite events and programs, such as pre-conference workshops, an opening night Face-Off demonstration, portfolio critiques, open drawing sessions, a 6x9 Mystery Art Sale and so much more! Over the weekend the top 20 finalists of The International competition, the world's premier portrait competition, will exhibit their outstanding artworks in hopes of winning the Draper Grand Prize and a cash award of $50,000. In anticipation of our grand event, I had a chance to talk with a few of our new and returning faculty artists to discuss a range of subjects from education and training to how advancements in technology have changed the way artists work and communicate with their audiences. In this issue, we will hear from artists Adrienne Stein, Alicia N. Ponzio, Dan Thompson, Timothy Rees, Shane Wolf and Michael Bergt.

Recent advancements in technology, from new social media platforms to artificial intelligence, have changed the way many people including artists work and communicate with one another, and learning how to navigate this ever-changing online world can be challenging.