Gary Faigin

In 1979, Faigin travelled to Paris where he spent a year studying at the famed École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.

Upon the retirement of Robert Beverly Hale, in 1983, Faigin was asked to teach his Figure Drawing class at the League, a program he presented continuously over the next decade.

He opened his own studio in Hell's Kitchen and began personal work focused on self-portraits and still lifes.In the summer of 1984, Faigin began a ten-year summer residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a locale that afforded him exposure to the burgeoning realist painting scene of the Southwest.

His works included pastel landscapes and print making with shows at the Frank Croft and the Realist Art Galleries.

A 2005 photo by Thomas Struth captured Faigin lecturing in front of Las Meninas at the Prado to a group of Gage tour participants.

[10] In 2006, Faigin's Seattle studio was featured in the first public demonstration of Microsoft's Photosynth using the details in his paintings and drawings to show off its high-resolution capabilities.

Through the Gage Academy, he has hosted an artist interview series called ArtTalk, some of which appear on the Seattle Channel.