Meet the instructors and staff
SARA’s instructors have all been trained in academic representational art, as well as having a variety of other experiences and educations. These shared experiences, coupled with their unique perspectives, work together to form a consistent, yet nuanced learning experience for students.
Below our list of instructors, we have illustrated SARA’s artistic training lineage, which forms a direct and unbroken line from our current instructors, through their teachers, as far back as the 14th Century.
'To teach is to learn twice.'
- Joseph Joubert
Sanna was born in Sweden and studied drawing and painting at The Florence Academy of Art in Italy between 1996-1998. Afterward, she studied briefly with the painter Odd Nerdrum in Norway, together with Hans-Peter Szameit, they being the first students coming from an classical atelier background to connect and study with Nerdrum and his Norwegian school. In 2001, Sanna, together with Hans, founded Pantura Studios in the United States, and taught a growing group of students while establishing her painting career and taking commissions. In early 2006, Sanna returned to Sweden and founded The Swedish Academy of Realist Art, along with Hans. Since then, Sanna has devoted her time to teaching and developing SARA’s education as well as her own artistic work. One of her most prominent paintings is a monumental ceiling painting executed for Bååtska Palace in Stockholm. Measuring over seven meters by four meters, the massive commissioned painting was mounted into the palace’s 16th-century ceiling and inaugurated in the presence of Sweden’s King, Carl XVI Gustaf, in 2012. She has also done a number of formal portrait commissions, including one of Sweden’s Prince Bertil, which hangs in the Royal Swedish Palace. Sanna’s paintings and drawings can be found in public and private collections throughout the world.
Website: sannatomac.se
Instagram: @sannatomac
Hans-Peter was born in the United States from European immigrant parents. Intending to study Fine Art at Augustana University (SD,USA), its modernist approach was not what he was seeking, so he instead earned his degree in Literature and Philosophy. Later, he once again focused his attention on art and studied drawing and painting at The Florence Academy of Art, in Italy from 1995-1998 where he also received a scholarship to teach there while still a student. In 1999, he studied with the painter Odd Nerdrum in Norway. In 2001 he founded Pantura Studios in the United States, together with Sanna Tomac, where they worked and taught a small group of students coming from across the country and abroad. In early 2006 they moved to Sweden and founded The Swedish Academy of Realist Art (SARA) in Stockholm. Hans has been a primary teacher and lecturer at SARA since it’s foundation and has a deep passion for teaching and sharing knowledge. Hans-Peter’s paintings, drawings and etchings can be found in public and private collections throughout the world.
Instagram: @hpsartist
Theodora was born in Bucharest, Romania. She currently lives and paints in Vaxholm, Sweden. Theodora studied at The Swedish Academy of Realist Art (SARA) and graduated in 2013. During her studies, she worked as an intern at the gaming company EA DICE in Stockholm, and has been teaching at SARA since her graduation. She is a working fine artist and freelance illustrator, and a two time winner at The American Portrait Society (2014 Certificate of Excellency and 2015 Exceptional Merit).
Website: capat.art
Instagram: @capatart
Karl was born in Lund, Sweden, where he currently resides and has his studio. He graduated from the The Swedish Academy of Realist Art (SARA), studied illustration at Mälardalen University and art history at Lund University. Karl has been teaching at SARA since 2015 and has also worked as a drawing instructor at Uppsala University. His work has been exhibited in galleries and institutions in Europe and the US, such as the MEAM museum in Barcelona, Liljevalchs in Stockholm and Sotheby’s in New York City. He was also selected to be included in the Lunar Codex project with an image of his work sent in a capsule to the moon.
Website: karlwennergren.com
Instagram: @karlwennergren
Isabel is a Swedish painter who received her classical training at the Florence Academy of Art (Mölndal branch), where she studied drawing and painting for 4 years. She has experience teaching art in both Italy and Sweden, and has exhibited her works publicly on numerous occasions. For the past two years she lived in Rockhampton, Australia, before moving back to Sweden and joining the faculty of SARA.
Instagram: @isabelkoger
Having previously worked as an architect, Jacky Chan left to study classical realist painting at the Florence Academy of Art for 3 years. After graduating, he was awarded a 4th year scholarship to stay on and then continued to teach for the following 2 years as a principal drawing instructor for the painting and sculpture program.
He returned to Australia during the pandemic and worked at the Rockhampton Museum of Art for 3 years.
Jacky not only teaches painting at SARA, but also leads the anatomy program.
Website: https://www.jackychanstudio.com
Instagram: @notjackychan
Inken Stabell is a printmaker and illustrator from Berlin, Germany. Having completed SARA’s 3-year programme in 2019, she went on to further study a Master’s degree in contemporary illustration at the University of Portsmouth with a focus on etching, which she graduated with distinction. Having gained an audience for her atmospheric prints online, she now works and sells independently from her studio to collectors worldwide. Inken teaches drawing and etching at SARA.
Website: inkenstabell.com
Instagram:instagram.com/
Johan was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and has been passionate about drawing for as long as he can remember. He studied at Stockholms konstskola and worked with album covers and book illustrations before studying and graduating from The Swedish Academy of Realist Art (SARA). Since then, he has been working as a fine artist, specialising in work from life and the imagination.
Instagram: @wergeland.art
William was born in the Skåne region of Sweden and trained at The Swedish Academy of Realist Art (SARA) when it was located in Stockholm, Sweden. He even served as a student teacher in his final year at SARA. Before studying at SARA, William went to boarding school where he studied sculpture, ceramics as well as drawing and painting. In his work, William depicts and celebrates the beauty he sees in the world around him.
Instagram: @uiriamu_art
Lena was born in Sweden but has lived most of her adult life in London, UK. After completing a BA Honors in Graphic Design at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design, she worked as an Art Director at the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi London. She began working at The Swedish Academy of Realist Art (SARA) in the fall of 2018. Although Lena moved from cosmopolitan London to the relaxed countryside of Österlen, she still feels very much connected to the wider world, since every day she is surrounded by so many artists and art students from such a wide variety of countries. As Rector, Lena is head of SARA’s Administration as well as Communication.
Contact Lena on: lena@sara-academy.se
The Swedish Academy of Realist Art’s Artistic Training Lineage
Passing down knowledge and experience to others is something fine artists have done for centuries.
In fact, it would be challenging to find an artist whom you admire who has not had students. Teaching is a way of sustaining and nurturing the art you love, of leaving behind not just the art you have created, but skilled artists who in turn will create more wonderful work and teach others. Students of SARA can trace their training in a direct and unbroken line from their instructors, through the lineage of their teachers, as far back as the 14th Century. The lineage branches out like a large family tree that includes hundreds of artists, since many artists had more than one teacher. Below is just one branch of the artistic lineage as an example:
Andrea del Verrocchio, Italian, born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de’ Cioni, was a sculptor, Italian painter and goldsmith who was a master of an important workshop in Florence.
He apparently became known as Verrocchio after the surname of his master, a goldsmith. Few paintings are attributed to him with certainty, but important painters were trained at his workshop. His pupils included Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino and Lorenzo di Credi. His greatest importance was as a sculptor and his last work, the Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, is generally accepted as a masterpiece. (wikipedia)
