Robert Armetta, Founder/Director

Robert Armetta has studied extensively throughout the United States and Europe, at schools including Columbus College of Art and Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Atelier Lack, the Florence Academy of Art, the New York Academy of Art, and the Water Street Atelier.

He has exhibited at the Allen Sheppard Gallery, Grenning Gallery, Arcadia Gallery, John Pence Gallery, Nabi Gallery, and Seraphin Gallery, and at the National Academy of Design, in New York City, and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, in Indiana.

He has taught drawing and painting at Long Island University, Southampton, and currently teaches drawing and painting at the New York Academy of Art and the Long Island Academy of Fine Art, in Riverhead, New York, which he founded in 2000. His own studio is in Brooklyn, where he lives with his wife and daughter.

Leeanna Chipana

Leeanna Chipana began her art studies at the Stevenson Academy of Fine Arts where she apprenticed under Director, Attila Hejja while working as the schools Administrative Director. She then continued her studies with Robert Armetta of the Long Island Academy of Fine Art and Nelson Shanks at the New York Art Students League.

Leeanna has won various art scholarships to study at Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia and is currently pursuing a successful art career. Leeanna is continuing her studies under a full time apprenticeship program (Atelier Armetta) with Robert Armetta. In 2008 Ms. Chipana started Long Islands first classical art program for children (LIAFA Young Artist Program) ages 9 through 13. This program was designed to offer children the opportunity to receive classical training normally only offered to adults while preparing them with college portfolio building skills. In addition, Leeanna teaches an advanced drawing course to high school students at The Long Island High School of the Arts in Syosset, NY. Leeanna has worked with high school portfolio students since 2004.

Steve Forster

Raised in central Florida Steve graduated from the Florida School of the Arts with an A.A. in painting in 2003. Soon after which he was accepted into ArtSouth, an artists’ residency outside of Miami, where he first started to develop as a working artist. He then left for Italy where he studied for two years painting and drawing in the 19th century tradition at the Florence Academy of Art with Daniel Graves. Moving back to the States with a desire to teach in this tradition he finished his BFA at the University of North Florida. Steve has recently received his MFA from the New York Academy of Art where he also teaches a plein air course. He is represented at Eileen Corse Gallery and Atelier in Jacksonville, FL and Hanover Galley in Chattanooga, TN.

Suanne Martin

Suanne received her undergraduate degree from a private college in Michigan known for its academic and foreign study programs, providing her an opportunity to travel and study extensively throughout eastern and western Europe, as well as the Middle East. In between her undergraduate and graduate work, she studied for three years with master sculptor Jay Holland at The Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, learning the foundation of figurative sculpture and anatomy. Continuing her art training at Pratt Institute in New York, Suanne earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1991.

Since 1991, Suanne has made a living exclusively as a sculptor, working for various studios in New York, New Jersey and Chicago. Her main focus has been on sculpting the human form, with a special emphasis on portrait studies and commissions, many of which can be seen as permanent installations in museums across the United States as well as Mexico and South America. In addition to the figurative work, Suanne is building a strong and growing clientele for her canine sculpture-- highly detailed and cast in sterling silver, bronze and marble.

Working professionally as a sculptor has also added a deeper dimension to her skills as a sculptor instructor-- serving as the head of the sculpture department for a Fine Arts Academy in Long Island since 2004 .

Kevin McEvoy

Kevin began studying art at an early age by copying old master drawings by Albrecht Durer. He received his bachelors degree in Fine Arts from Stony Brook University. He went on to study painting in Chile at La Universidad de Playa Ancha. The most important event in his training was his period of study at the oldest active atelier in Europe, the Charles Cecil Studios of Florence, Italy. In the Florentine Studio, he worked alongside some of the leading European authorities in painting technique, art history, and aesthetics. Kevin McEvoy currently resides with his wife and son in New York. From his studio in Islip, he continues in the tradition of Sargent, Rembrandt, and Velazquez by painting portrait commissions entirely from life, without any photographic means.

Kang Ngeow

Kang Ngeow began his classical-art studies at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom and continued at the Michael John Angel Studios. In order to maintain his strict academic training Kang moved to New York to study at the New York Academy of Art. Kang has exhibited at the New York Academy of Art, the Earls Court Gallery, and the Academy of Realist Art. His awards include Winner for the American Artist Drawing Magazine Competition (2006), 4th place for the 2005 Art Renewal Center Scholarship Competition, Finalist for the 2005 ARC International Salon Competition, and Winner of the 2004 American Artist Magazine Annual Art Competition. Kang currently lives and teaches in New York.

• Jon deMartin
• Tony Ryder
• Steven Assael
• Juliette Aristides
• Ben Fenske
• Rob Zeller
• Bennett Vadnais

• Ramiro
• Paul Rafferty
• Chris Pugliese
• John Wellington
• Patrick Connors
• Ying-he Liu
• Marc Dalessio