Oruhito's photostream  

Alexander Soukas: The Painter

Alexander's serious training in the fine arts began upon attending the Walnut Hill School for the arts, one of five highschools in the country dedicated to rigorous training in music, ballet, theatre, writing, and visual arts. Unsatisfied with his training, and desiring to pursue a career as a realist artist he began homeschooling as a way to attain his diploma while undertaking his apprenticeship with realist figure painter Jason Polins. Soukas studied traditional painting and drawing in Boston with Polins for 4 and a half years, where he is now an assistant and visiting teacher at Polins' atelier, The Boston School of Painting. Soukas is currently a freshman student with distinguished scholarships at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in a coordinated program with UPenn. Among studying under notable faculty including Scott Noel, Michael Grimaldi, and Peter van Dyck, Alexander is also continuing his training in the lineage of Nelson Shanks, studying at Studio Incamminati. In the Summer, Soukas continues to work alongside Polins painting, teaching, and selling work.

The Paperfolder -

Soukas is first and foremost a contemporary realist painter and draftsmen, though he is also known for his work in the emerging genre sculpture known as origami, or paper folding. In 2006, Alexander began training in origami and papermaking with Michael Lafosse – a leading master of the art and an internationally recognized pioneer of the field. at fourteen he had two pieces in the exhibit, "On the Edge: Contemporary Origami" at the Fitchburg Art Museum. His work has since been exhibited in galleries and museums across the country. Alex continues to fold, exhibit, take commissions and lecture about origami as a legitimate art form and its potential in fine arts, design and architecture, to schools throughout Massachusetts. His advanced training and knowledge in the fine arts gives a sensitive painterly quality to his work in what is an often times mathematically driven field. Alexander's penname, Oruhito, comes from the Japanese words, Oru (to fold), and Hito, (person) which roughly translates to "one who folds" or the "the man who folds"

Alexander Soukas CV

(781) - 636 - 8514
alexsoukas ‘at’ comcast.net
www.flickr.com/photos/alexsoukasart

Education

- Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, BFA, 2011
- Painting and Drawing at Studio Incamminati, 2011
- Apprentice to Jason Polins 2007 - 2011
- FIgure and Portrait Drawing, under Jon DeMartin, 2010
- Figurative sculpture and portraiture, under Gerry Hoag, 2009
- Colour Theory, under Courtney Jordan, 2009
- Paper making intensive under Michael Lafosse, 2008
- Figure drawing, under Paul Rahilley, 2008
- Oak Meadow Home Schooling 2008-2011
- Walnut Hill School for the Arts 2008

Select Group Exhibitions

- On the Edge: Contemporary Origami, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg MA, 2006
- Origami Tessellations: A Group Show, The Gail Cahalan Gallery, Providence RI, 2008
- FAVA Folding Festival, New Union Center for the Arts, Oberlin OH, 2009, 2010
- Folding, Sandusky Cultural Center, Sandusky OH, 2009
- Paper, Dana Hall Art Gallery, Wellesley MA, 2009
- Annual Origami USA Exhibition, The Fashion Institute of Technology, New York NY, 2007, 2008, 2009

Work Experience

- Millenium Pharmaceuticals, The Takeda, "1,000 Cranes of Hope" ONS conference, 2011
- Classical Painting and Drawing, Thayer Academy, Milton MA, 2010
- Multiple Private students, Drawing, 2010
- Private student, Patrick Watrous, paper-folding, 2009
- Paper folding Workshop, Berklee College of Music, Boston MA, ESL students, 2009
- Origami’s Applications in Architecture and Design: Workshop,Dana Hall High School: Architecture and Studio Art Students, Wellesley MA, 2009
- Origami as a Legitimate Art: Workshop and Lecture, Dana HallHigh School: AP Studio Art, Wellesley MA, 2008
- Intro to Origami: Workshop and Lecture, Dana Hall Middle School, Wellesley MA, 2008
- Origami and Math: Workshop, JFK Middle School, Natick MA, 2006