This section of Skill-Based Art: A Learning Resource for Art Students & Artist-Teachers (SBA)™ is committed to raising awareness of contemporary traditional artists who have lineage to the teaching methodologies of the 19th century ateliers and academies of Europe. It is through an unbroken chain of knowledge that was passed on from master-to-pupil over the centuries that the fine arts of drawing, painting and sculpture have been maintained to this current day. A focus on building dexterity and attaining the highest levels of craftsmanship in academic drafting through skill-based training is emphasised as a prerequisite to creating finely crafted works of art.
The collection of content focuses on the biography and training of artists who were born into an art world filled with modernist ideologies that embraced abstraction, experimentation and relativism which was at odds to their own beliefs of the timeless relevance of traditional notions concerning beauty. As such, the majority of artists interviewed were ostracised by the art establishment and chose to walk their own path, seeking teachers who too were rejected for their anti-modernist predispositions. These artists have made a conscious decision to dedicate their lives to creating masterful works of art that have a prodigious verisimilitude to the works of artists of the western European academic tradition.
