Visual Arts teacher, Emilio Longo, founded Skill-Based Art: A Learning Resource for Art Students & Artist-Teachers (SBA)™ in 2017.
After having spent over six years studying Art in the University system and learning of the limited opportunities there are for art students to learn the principles and methods of representational drawing, painting and sculpture, Emilio decided to take action and focus his efforts on cultivating a body of knowledge that includes artist demonstrations and interviews, essays, podcasts and how-to videos to educate like-minded art students and artist-teachers who endeavour to draw, paint and sculpt in a traditional realist, skill-based, way.
Emilio states, “SBA is about giving art students a place to go who like me, were yearning to learn how the artists that worked prior to the 20th century created such masterful works. From early on, I was aware of all the incredible opportunities that were offered in Europe and the United States, through the various academies and ateliers, but I was beside myself as to why one would have to travel that far to receive this kind of training. I wanted to make that skill-based training available here, in Australia, but I wanted to make it really accessible so that anybody could learn, not just those who could afford it.”
“After finishing my formal art training in 2017 which included a Diploma of Visual Arts (RMIT University), Bachelor of Visual Arts (Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne) and a Master of Teaching in Visual Arts (The University of Melbourne), I was driven and felt a responsibility to address this issue of the lack of skill-based visual arts education available in Australia. This galvanised the way for SBA’s founding in the same year. Since then, we have worked with many artists to develop demonstrations, interviews, podcasts, essays and art materials in effort to piece back together the body of knowledge concerning an artists’ training which existed in centuries past.”
“I consider SBA to be my life’s work and my vocation. Our vision is to create a comprehensive, multi-dimensional resource for art students and artist-teachers where they can come and learn in a step-by-step manner and at their own pace. I’m very enthusiastic about our future and look forward to continuing to share our work with anybody who finds value in it.”
To learn more about Mr. Longo’s research into Skill-Based Art training, read his thesis here.
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