Co-creating with the natural world and designing solutions to social and environmental challenges are the driving forces behind my business, New York Heartwoods - a Kingston, NY-based fabricator of wood furniture and custom surfaces made with lumber milled from fallen and urban Hudson Valley trees. www.newyorkheartwoods.com

Biodesigner | Biomimicry Specialist

I founded my studio in 2011 with the goal to make sustainable design both accessible and attractive. With an emphasis on biofabrication and biomimicry, much of my work upholds a fundamental value of nature and embodies a systems thinking approach that benefits all life on this planet. Outside of the studio I lead biomimicry and mycelium workshops and teach biodesign at The Pratt Institute. www.danielletrofe.com

I have a practice rooted in environmental design. I build modular units that stack and suspend in space and play host to an interconnected world of weaving ecosystems. The modular units come in a variety of scales and mediums, bridging disciplines from art, industrial, furniture, and interiors to architecture and urban design. The objects, structures and installations, which inhabit home, retail, work, public, and gallery spaces, inspire and provoke questions about the ecology of our daily lives. Huy-Bui.com

Researcher, curator, salon producer

“I am an independent curator, PopRally committee member, and the lead Salon Producer & Researcher in the Museum of Modern Art’s Research & Development department. Founded in 2012 by Paola Antonelli, this initiative explores the potential and responsibility of museums, as public actors, with the vision of establishing our institutions as the R&D departments of society. I will discuss our process for finding and inviting experts from a range of professional backgrounds and why I believe that it is essential to bring artists and designers in conversation with researchers, chefs, neuroscientists, data scientists, writers, activists, sociologists, anthropologists, and philosophers (amongst others) to tackle timely issues in a collaborative way.”

www.samanthaozer.com | http://momarnd.moma.org/salons/ | IG: @samanthaozer

Designer, artist

"My practice started off in the field of fine arts making sculpture and installations. My conceptual interests then about materials and visual properties carried over into my interests in design. I feel like that fascination, with the physical nature of things, will always fuel my work"

https://iancochran.com

November 2018 | Installation

Kate Kosek's work is a formal exploration of sensation, memory, routine, and perception through the interweaving of painting, drawing, printmaking, and crocheted fibers.  She will be discussing her first large-scale installation piece made for an exhibition in Bologna this past May, as part of an international collaboration between the Wayfarers collective in Brooklyn and artistic-duo Antonello Ghezzi in Italy.  http://katekosek.com

November 2018 | Ceramic

An assembly of pipe sculptures. A series of clay beams. Furry ceramic feet for objects. A skinny column. Kyong Kim will talk about her ceramic projects, where she appropriates industrial and architectural forms. Kyong Kim is an architect and designer based in New York. Her work ranges in scale from a 12x12 pixel gif to a 12,000 square meter building. For more of her projects, visit kyongkim.works

October 2018 | Indian drum

"This Drum Has Two Heads and I Only Have One"

Doug will talk about mṛdangam, the principal drum in South Indian, or Carnatic music and play some drums! Doug studied the drum under the late T. Ranganathan at Wesleyan University. He is the recipient of a Ford Foundation Fellowship to collect and transcribe the compositions of Ranganathan. Doug is also a Craniosacral and Movement Therapist, founder of BrilliantBody™, who has worked in clinical and private practice since 1990.

October 2018 | Furniture and interior design

A designer-artist Fernando uses atypically commonplace materials – such as salt, coffee, sand, glass and cement – to cast sculptural objects that inextricably entangle fine art and design disciplines. Mastrangelo is founder of a design firm, Fernando Mastrangelo Studio (FM/S), that runs out of his Brooklyn studio.

October 2018 | Art program

Ricardo will talk about his ceramic-painting-performance studio named Atelier Dragão Baiano, situated on a beachfront coconut farm in Bahia, Brazil. Since 2003, this multidisciplinary tropical den has promoted art residency programs and workshops for international and local artists and cultural junket parties.
Ricardo lives and works in New York, São Paulo and Bahia, Brazil. He has a B.A. in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of São Paulo FAU-USP and an M.A. in Studio Art from NYU.

September 2018 | Furniture, sound data

Erica uses a combination of analog and digital processes, exploring themes such as the visualization of data and sound. Erica is an artist and designer based in New York City and is the head of art production and design at Isolated Labs--studio of Tavares Strachan. She received a BFA in Industrial Design from RISD in 2012. 

July 2018 | Craft, photography

We have a little different format this month. For the first half of the night, Nick will talk to us about his photo projects. His latest series “Block Head Modeling” explores curiosity, social creativity, and play.  For the second half, Nick would like for YOU to take part! Create a wearable headpiece and model the final piece for the "Block Head Modeling". We will provide simple children's craft supplies. Come ready to play! https://www.technicolordino.com/blockheadmodeling

June 2018 | Painting, murals

Joran is a painter who lives and works in Brooklyn NY. She will be presenting a project she did in 2013, when she took a departure from her usual studio practice to paint murals while visiting a friend who was doing Peace Corps in a village in rural Senegal.

June 2018 | Paper sculptures, textiles

Brenda has worked with interior designers, set designers, set decorators, magazine editors and personal clients creating drapery, softgoods, and upholstery. Brenda also sources and or repairs furniture with antique fabrics and trims for a variety of celebrity clientele. She will show us her artwork including paper sculpture and textiles.

May 2018 | Sculptures

Natalie Moore is a visual artist whose current work is created by hand weaving steel wire.  The shapes of her sculptures reference both the natural and the man-made. They can resemble objects ravaged by wind, rain and the continuum of time while at the same time referencing a scientific rendering of string theory or an un-built, abandoned CAD model gone awry. www.nataliemoore.com

April 2018 | ceramic, sculptures

“I express myself mainly through drawing and sculpture. I often utilize time consuming techniques such as handbuilding porcelain, welding or silk-thread stitching. I will tell you about my projects and focus on my “Cultivation” -series, sculptures made of porcelain and bread.” -Cecilia Jansson

Cecilia Jansson is known for her well-crafted sculptures and large-scale embroidery. She was selected to exhibit at the Swatch pavilion at the Venice Biennial 2015. She has been a head teacher in sculpture at Örebro Art College, Sweden and is currently working on new projects at Sculpture Center NYC. www.ceciliajansson.se

April 2018 | Painting

For most of her career Monique has created abstract paintings and collages on canvas and panel using oil, acrylic and watercolor. Over the last year her body of work has transformed. She currently creates watercolor paintings using representational imagery surrounding botanical and anatomical references and symbols. 

April 2018 | sculptures
“My work explores the relationship between personal and cultural nostalgia in subject matter, material and method. It straddles the childhood/adulthood line while questioning the fine art/traditional craft form border. Combining references to doll hair, crafts, folk motifs and Americana from my 1970’s childhood in Kansas, I see interdependence between the multiplicities of cultures in our world and make sculpture as a way of recognizing and playing with the unintended and humorous connections between them.”  http://ellie-murphy.com