Your Teachers
Chuck Pyle
Charles “Chuck” Pyle is an artist, illustrator, painter en plein air and studio, with a streak of humor and a love of traveling and drawing the world around him.
Charles, or ‘Chuck’ as he is known, has been an artist since he was a young child, and has had successful career as a painter illustrator since 1976. Finding the right way to tell a story in a painting has always been his strength, injecting a bit of humor or drama a hallmark, and making clients and collectors happy the ultimate goal.
Chuck was the Director of the School of Illustration at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and was been honored with the Distinguished Educator in the Arts Award from the Society of Illustrators, and received an honorary doctorate for his service of nearly 20 years.
He resides in Sonoma County and is a founding artist member of both Sonoma and Telluride Plein Air.
Keith Wicks
Internationally renowned artist, Keith Wicks is recognized for his ability to capture the intensity and romanticism of light and color on canvas.
From a first place win in a Bakersfield art show as a sixth grader to working for George Lucas, Keith Wicks has built his life around a passion for art. Wicks is an alum of the Art Center College in Pasadena and, after graduation, moved to San Francisco and now Sonoma County.
He spent nearly a decade teaching at the Academy of Art University and working in multimedia. He founded the Sonoma Plein Air Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises funds to preserve art education in Sonoma public schools and art organizations.
Wicks now paints on location and exhibits his work through-out the world.