Z BEHL, b. 1985, is a New York based filmmaker and visual artist. An interdisciplinary artist, she most often works in sculptural installation, performance, and film. Culling myths to narrativize trickster archetypes exploring gender and power, Z is concerned with chaos, attachment, and the role of the artist as a world breaker. 

Z has performed at PIONEER WORKS, exhibited at Mana Contemporary and the CAC New Orleans, and been commissioned to make monumental sculptures in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Her film “Geppetto” was selected for the Venice Biennale Cinema College. She has received awards from the Pollack Krasner Foundation, NYFA, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation. 

Z has also curated exhibitions around collective trauma with the 9/11 survivors community, and Hurricane Sandy— featuring artworks that were damaged/improved by the hand of the storm. Her work has been reviewed by Art News, the New York Times, the Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic and the Wall St Journal. She has been a resident of the MacDowell Colony, Collarwork’s Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency and Radio 28 in Mexico. 

Phillip Buehler is a New York based photographer who documents the deterioration and remnants of neglected architecture constructed in the recent past. In the series “No Man is an Island…” Buehler has photographed the historic, and also often forgotten islands, around New York City. Some of them, like Ellis Island, loom large in their impact on history, culture and existence in the national identity. Others, like “Rat Island,” a privately-owned 2.5 acre islet north of The Bronx, with an unusual statue of William Tell (and nothing much more), are known about by virtually no one. But many, like North Brother Island, held storied institutions like Riverside Hospital—a place to quarantine people with smallpox, and later tuberculosis, and even later drug addiction. Eventually the forces that be let it go to seed, and it has been abandoned for around sixty years now.

Iman Fayyad is the founding director of project:if, a design and research practice based in Cambridge, MA, exploring geometry, material efficiency, and the politics of building. She is assistant professor of Architecture at Harvard GSD and a 2024 MacDowell Fellow. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Technology: Architecture and Design, Nexus Network Journal, Log, and The Avery Review, and exhibited at venues like the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Roca Gallery in London. Her zero-waste construction research has received support from the MetLife Foundation, Architizer’s Design For Good Award, and the ACSA Faculty Design Award. Fayyad holds degrees from MIT and Harvard GSD and has previously taught and the politics of building. She is assistant professor of Architecture at Harvard GSD and a 2024 MacDowell Fellow. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Technology: Architecture and Design, Nexus Network Journal, Log, and The Avery Review, and exhibited at venues like the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Roca Gallery in London. Her zero-waste construction research has received support from the MetLife Foundation, Architizer’s Design For Good Award, and the ACSA Faculty Design Award. Fayyad holds degrees from MIT and Harvard GSD and has previously taught at Syracuse, MIT, and Princeton.

Joseph Iacona (he/him) is a visual artist, community engaged creative, public arts professional, and restorative practitioner. He has initiated over 100 community art projects and artist residencies in schools, libraries, museums, prisons, shelters, behavioral health facilities, and other public service centers. His work has been highlighted in museums, galleries, and cultural institutions. Joseph has worked with internationally recognized art organizations, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and with Mural Arts Philadelphia, the nation’s largest public art non-profit. He is currently Director of the Mural Arts Institute (MAI) for Mural Arts Philadelphia. Iacona has a Masters of Science in Restorative Practices with a specialization in Community Engagement from the International Institute for Restorative Practices and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting with a minor in Art History from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth Knowles is a visual artist based in Norfolk, CT and New York City. Her art making explores both static and dynamic patterns in nature recurring on differing scales of perception. She is influenced by the long lineage of female sculptors utilizing traditional craft processes and materials to create a dialogue with nature. Recent projects include site specific installations for Governors Island, Pingree School, University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus and outdoor sculptures for the Cape Cod Museum and the Village Green in Norfolk, CT. For Morningside Park in Upper Manhattan in June 2023 Knowles created 3 temporary site-specific floating sculptures in addition to 2022 outdoor sculptures for the NYC Parks on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Other projects include site-specific installations for Unesco’s Artistes + Science, Monaco, The Pelham Art Center, NY, Ely Center for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT, Rockrose Lobby for Chashama, NY, NY, Flat Iron Prow Art Space, NY, NY, the New Canaan Sculpture Trail, CT, NYU Langone, NY, NY and Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, NY. Additionally, Knowles has created projects for Edith Wharton’s House, The Mount in Lenox, MA, Bank of America Plaza, Charlotte, NC, the Housatonic Museum, Bridgeport, CT, Artspace, New sculptures for the NYC Parks on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Other projects include site-specific installations for Unesco’s Artistes + Science, Monaco, The Pelham Art Center, NY, Ely Center for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT, Rockrose Lobby for Chashama, NY, NY, Flat Iron Prow Art Space, NY, NY, the New Canaan Sculpture Trail, CT, NYU Langone, NY, NY and Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, NY. Additionally, Knowles has created projects for Edith Wharton’s House, The Mount in Lenox, MA, Bank of America Plaza, Charlotte, NC, the Housatonic Museum, Bridgeport, CT, Artspace, New Haven, CT, the Painting Center, NY, NY, Five Points Art Center, CT, Studio 80 +Sculpture Grounds, Old Lyme, CT, the Kingston Police Building, Kingston, NY, Chesterwood National Trust for Historic Preservation, Stockbridge, MA and Governor’s Island, NY, NY. She has collaborated with Saks Fifth Avenue on window installations and VOGUE magazine for the “Last Look” page. Knowles has received numerous grants and residencies including The Puffin Foundation, Assets for Artists at MASS MoCA, Weir Farm, E.D. Foundation, YADDO, Millay Colony, VCCA, VSC among others.

Eunkyung Lee is originally from Seoul, South Korea. She embarked on a transformative, artistic journey after moving to New York in 2000. Traveling extensively throughout Europe, including Italy, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Czech Republic, and Austria, Lee absorbed diverse cultures, shaping my unique artistic language. My works transcend borders, bridging different traditions and capturing the essence of human experience. Her art invites viewers to explore and reflect, offering glimpses into the beauty found within our shared journey.

Michael Levchenko was born in 1976 in Kyiv, Ukraine. He grew up in an artistic environment, which allowed his own creativity to develop. Michael Levchenko started painting at an early age and began sculpting when he was only 15 years old. His first works were mainly figurative, but over the years, his art evolved into abstraction. It was abstraction that gave the talented artist complete freedom to create his art and share his vision, shaping a space both emotionally and intellectually. Today, Michael Levchenko is a prominent Ukrainian abstract sculptor working in stone, granite, sandstone, and marble. His incredible sculptures have been featured at a number of national and international exhibitions and are in many private and public collections worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roldan (Argentina), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Volterra (Italy), and the International Sculpture Park in Aya Napa (Cyprus). Monumental works by Michael Levchenko are also installed in public spaces in Ukraine, China, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Israel, Turkey, Canada, and other countries. Contemporary Art in Roldan (Argentina), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Volterra (Italy), and the International Sculpture Park in Aya Napa (Cyprus). Monumental works by Michael Levchenko are also installed in public spaces in Ukraine, China, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Israel, Turkey, Canada, and other countries. Many of his works belong to private and public collections in Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Chile, China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Syria, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, the United States. In 2019, took part in “The Shadow of Dream” cast at Giardini della Biennale” within Ukrainian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale.

Lizzie MacWillie is an urban designer and educator serving as Assistant Director of the J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures at the City College of New York. Previously, she was a Director at buildingcommunityWORKSHOP in Dallas, focusing on community engagement and public interest design.

Peter Miller, AIA, LEED-AP, is a partner and co-founder of Palette Architecture, which seeks to create physical spaces that enhance and enrich the daily experience of people’s lives. Peter has taught architecture studios at Washington University in St. Louis and serves as a director on the AIA-NY executive board. Peter is a registered architect with 20 years of experience; his notable projects include Grace Farms, the National WWII Museum, the Paper Factory Hotel, More with Less affordable housing, and the revitalization of Forest Park. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Washington University and a master’s degree from Columbia University.

Michael Poast, NYC sculptor, having both classical music and visual art backgrounds, and holding degrees from the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and The City University of New York, was mentored by the famous sculptor, Mark Di Suvero, during a studio residency at Socrates Sculpture Park, in Long Island City, NYC. Poast demonstrated his use of steel formats in solo sculpture exhibitions entitled Space Time at Pratt Manhattan Gallery, and Hudson Guild Gallery, NYC, and is affiliated with the Denise Bibro Fine Art gallery, Chelsea, NY. Michael Poast’s steel sculpture Bastille, acquired into the permanent collection of the El Paso Museum of Art, Texas; Venus, painted steel, permanent public artwork commissioned by the City of Yonkers, NY; ZIG on Broad Avenue in Leonia, New Jersey, three large steel pieces presented at the Mosaic Art Space in LIC, NY, refurbished installations at the UNISON Art Center in New Paltz, NY, along with his sculpture “Figured Bass’ at the Water Street Market, and most currently, the re-location of “Water Music” his large steel public art sculpture in the City of Yonkers, NYC. are among his most current collected Michael Poast’s steel sculpture Bastille, acquired into the permanent collection of the El Paso Museum of Art, Texas; Venus, painted steel, permanent public artwork commissioned by the City of Yonkers, NY; ZIG on Broad Avenue in Leonia, New Jersey, three large steel pieces presented at the Mosaic Art Space in LIC, NY, refurbished installations at the UNISON Art Center in New Paltz, NY, along with his sculpture “Figured Bass’ at the Water Street Market, and most currently, the re-location of “Water Music” his large steel public art sculpture in the City of Yonkers, NYC. are among his most current collected and sited sculptures. The New Jersey Stage press hailed Poast’s sculpture as “Exciting New Art” and “Art Thrives” by amNY news, are honors received that include awards and grants from the Gottlieb and Beta Foundations, Artists Space, New York Foundation for the Arts, City Artist Grants, CCNY Art Career Achievement Award, the Lila Acheson Wallace Fund, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Alliance for Downtown NewYork, NewYork State Council on the Arts and Queens Council on the Arts. Current commissions, exhibitions, and events include a solo exhibition of his small steel pieces at St. John’s University, Dept. of Communication Studies, and upcoming sculpture installations in New Paltz, NY, along with group exhibitions and additional sculpture installations in 2024. Michael Poast teaches and lecturers on his art and music, at such venues as Pratt Institute, City University of New York, Parrish Art Museum, Rutgers University, the Julliard School, and is currently on faculty

Moses Ros is a sculptor, painter and printmaker of Dominican descent who lives and works in New York City. Ros has had solo exhibitions at the Sugar Hill Museum, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, and the Yeshiva University Museum in New York, as well as the Paterson Museum in New Jersey. He has also exhibited in the Yoryi Morel Room of the Institute of Culture and Art in Santiago, Dominican Republic. Ros has received several public sculpture commissions from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Bronx Arts Council, and the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority. His artwork is found in corporate and public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, El Museo del Barrio, and the AT&T Collection, among others. He is a founding member of the Dominican York Project Gráfica (DYPG) printmaking artist collective and the Arte Lat Am artist group. He began printmaking at The Bronx Printmakers and has worked at some of the top printmaking workshops in New York, including The Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, Lower East Side Printshop, and The Manhattan Graphics Center. He is a registered architect in New York and ' His artwork is found in corporate and public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, El Museo del Barrio, and the AT&T Collection, among others. He is a founding member of the Dominican York Project Gráfica (DYPG) printmaking artist collective and the Arte Lat Am artist group. He began printmaking at The Bronx Printmakers and has worked at some of the top printmaking workshops in New York, including The Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, Lower East Side Printshop, and The Manhattan Graphics Center. He is a registered architect in New York and earned his bachelor's degree in architecture from Pratt Institute University.

Edwin Salmon was born in NYC on August 29, 1969. He grew up in the Southwest and Midwest. One parent is a skilled painter and the other a trained architect. Once receiving a Fine arts degree he set about to educate himself in the metal fabrication field. First he started a business in Atlanta, GA then moved it to Boston, MA and finally to New Haven, CT. Edwin is currently the owner of EWS 3-D LLC, a high end design, management and architectural metal fabrication company. EWS 3-D has fabricated jobs nationally for clients such as Quinnipiac University, Starbucks and Subway, Architects such as AvroKo, Joeb Moore and Sidnam Petrone. Recently Edwin was asked to design and fabricate tables to be placed in the new Norman Foster designed Yale school of management. EWS 3-D’s work has been published widely in books on design and in periodicals such as New York, Interior Design and Architectural Review. As an artist he has shown his work continuously since the late 1980s. In January and February of 2017 he had a solo show at the Reynolds Fine Art gallery showcasing his Architectural Abstraction sculpture series and a works on paper series, Cell Tower Portraits. His sculpture has been shown and represented by galleries in New York, New Haven, the Berkshires, Cape Cod and on Long Island. Among his most notable achievements are, commissions to make large outdoor sculpture for The Yale Humanist Community and Marriott’s Fairfield Residence Inn in downtown Brooklyn, NY. He currently has outdoor sculpture on view in Connecticut at The Madison Sculpture Mile and in Hartford at Bushnell Plaza and The Governor’s Mansion. During his time in Connecticut he has partnered in owning and running a gallery, spent time teaching sculpture at the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, CT and being the director of the sculpture program at Buck's Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp in New Milford, CT. He currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the East Haven Arts Commission. For the last fifteen years he has lived on the shoreline in Connecticut with his wife, two children, dogs, chickens . . . . He enjoys running, vegetable gardening, growing berries, making jams and working on the house.

Chris Sancomb has a hybrid practice in design and studio arts that explores the intersections of art and science through a wide range of media.His design practice has focused on the creation of STEAM related informal learning environments for science and children's museums. His work in these areas centers on designing hands-on interactive learning experiences from concept development to implementation. Central to his design practice is the belief in creating inclusive, self directed, experiential environments designed to support varied learning styles, promote empathy, and help develop creative confidence in children.

Luke Schumacher was born in 1978 at Eagle Butte, South Dakota but raised in rural New Hampshire, where he set his roots playing in the northern forests and countryside. However, when his family moved to the Mojave Desert, California, Luke came to feel lost in the barren and alien landscape. When the opportunity to learn welding presented itself, working with metal became Luke's means of conceptualizing the structures and textures of the unpredictable world around him. His aptitude as an artist revealed itself as he finished trade school, where, by focusing on the surface textures, curves, and patinas of the metal finishes of his work, he sculpted a world that made sense to him. Luke’s works are very graceful with flowing energy, sensitivity to lines and geometric shapes. He takes his influence from nature and many of his pieces have playful theme to them. Schumacher has work in private collections on the east and west coast of the US, Europe and part of the permanent collections of Cerro Coso College, California and The Space, New York City.

Dianne Smith is a Bronx native of Belizean descent. She attended LaGuardia High School of Music and Art, the Otis Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She received her MFA from Transart Institute, Berlin, Germany in August 2012 MFA. She currently lives and works in Harlem. Dianne’s intriguing and compelling minimalist abstracts are haunting and beautiful. Her sculptures and installations are an extension of that beauty. Dianne’s work represents her inner connection to self, which reflects the artistic and spiritual journey that has enabled her to find her voice as an artist. Her work incites our emotions with lush palettes, expressive brushstrokes, texture and form. She creates provocative and meaningful imagery that challenges the viewer to see and consider pure color, movement and organic shapes. While her work remains rooted in her African origins, its purpose is Dianne’s intriguing and compelling minimalist abstracts are haunting and beautiful. Her sculptures and installations are an extension of that beauty. Dianne’s work represents her inner connection to self, which reflects the artistic and spiritual journey that has enabled her to find her voice as an artist. Her work incites our emotions with lush palettes, expressive brushstrokes, texture and form. She creates provocative and meaningful imagery that challenges the viewer to see and consider pure color, movement and organic shapes. While her work remains rooted in her African origins, its purpose is more universal. She puts it this way: “human civilizations and cultures all have Africa as their mother and are therefore more similar than we realize. I want my work to justly portray that connection, the essence of human existence, and thereby possibly affecting the whole of humankind for the better.” She has exhibited with noted artists including Norman Lewis, Samella Lewis, Chakai Booker, and Howardena Pindell. She also presented esteemed Poet and Author, Dr. Maya Angelou and Broadway Dance Choreographer George Faison each with one of her most celebrated pieces: Spirit of My Ancestors “I” and “II.” Her works are also in the private collections of Danny Simmons, UFA Gallery, Vivica A. Fox, Rev. and Mrs. Calvin O. Butts, III, Cicely Tyson, Arthur Mitchell and Terry McMillian. Natalie Collette Wood is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the intersections of nature, memory, and built environments. Using moss, flowers, and found objects, Wood creates immersive sculptural installations that evoke cycles of growth, decay, and renewal. Incorporating materials gathered from her Bronx neighborhood, Wood’s practice highlights hyperlocal ecologies and ancestral narratives, weaving personal and collective histories into layered, living forms.

Zihao Zhang is a designer, educator, and scholar in landscape architecture. As a landscape theorist, he provides critical analyses of the entanglement between nature and technology, the human and nonhuman realms, as well as ecosystems and intelligent machines. Through building transdisciplinary investigation across design, engineering, and environmental humanities, his book Cybernetics and the Constructed Environment interrogates the ramifications of cybernetics on contemporary culture and the constructed environment. Zihao serves as an assistant professor and director of the landscape architecture program at the City College of New York Spitzer School of Architecture.