Virginia Beach native Brett Edenton has spent his adult life pursuing the techniques of the masters.  Beginning studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, he quickly discovered that university life was not going to provide the representational education that he was looking for.   Moving on to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia, he spent two years focusing on the studio portion of their certificate program.  When the school began to move away from its traditional roots, Brett left the Academy to study privately with Philadelphia sculptor Anthony Visco.  He apprenticed with Mr. Visco for six years, and it was during that time that his skills as a draftsman flourished.  While taking classes at the Scuylkill Academy of Fine Art with Kevin Lewellen, Brett studied painting techniques through master copies and methods passed down from the late Arthur DeCosta. He quickly graduated from student to teacher at the Schuylkill Academy, instructing both still life and cast drawing.   Brett's Chicago studio is currently situated within the Ravenswood Atelier, alongside master painters Matt and Magdalena Almy.  He is now their primary anatomy and écorché instructor.

All of Brett’s paintings are completed from a series of extensive drawing and painting studies.  His work is unique in that it is done directly from life, yet it is not photo realism.  Instead he combines live studies with invention to create subtle, otherworldly effects.  Brett consistently studies the works of the masters, making use of each painter's palette and method, incorporating elements from each into his own work.  He has completed a number of prestigious projects, including a painting for the White House, a portrait of the famous boxer and actor Tex Cobb for the Philadelphia Boxing Museum, and three posthumous liturgical portraits of U.S. Venerables for the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  In 2015-16 he was the visiting artist at Culver Academies in Culver, Indiana.