Many students of the institute went on the successful careers as professional artists, most settling in western New York.

The institute had many well-known artists on the faculty, including Charles E. Burchfield, Edwin Dickinson, David Foster Pratt, Tony Sisti, Earl Stroh, Isaac Soyer, and William B. Rowe who directed the institute from 1942 until 1945.

Burchfield had an informal teaching style, and often took his students outdoors to work from nature.

[1] William Ehrich became a popular sculpture instructor by open carving demonstration [2] at AIB after immigrating to the United States in 1929.

In May 1937, Edwin Dickinson organized an art exhibition at which Jackson Pollock sold a work entitled Cotton Pickers.