The Compass Atelier Thesis Exhibition

New York by Rob Pearlman

Thesis Exhibition 

The Compass Atelier

January 24–February 28, 2026

For the past decade, The Compass Atelier has been quietly training a new generation of professional artists through its Master Artist Program (MAP). This Rockville, MD art school is the brainchild of internationally collected artist Glen Kessler. Having taught at the university level for 15 years, he grew dissatisfied with the expensive piecemeal education he witnessed in academia. In 2013, he founded The Compass Atelier to offer a less expensive more streamlined system of artistic training.

Kessler's students are led in logical steps from basics of drawing, through master level painting techniques, to a cohesive body of contemporary art work. The results are a broad range of powerful yet personal works of art as distinctive as each artist that produces them.

Many Compass Atelier graduates have gone on to earn gallery representation, national prizes, and full artistic careers. This year’s graduates demonstrate a broad range of powerful and personal work reflecting both the dedication to artistic growth and achievement in oil painting.

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