Four rooms of their own

POSTED ON: February 8, 2015

In the month of July, four New York City artists will be an integral part of the Summer Art Intensive at The Cooper Union. As they sculpt, paint, build, photograph, think, and dream (and probably write emails and make phone calls) students will gain a sense of the daily practices of working artists—and will see a month’s work realized in the form of a final installation.

The 2015 Summer Artists in Residence, Natalie Beall, Timothy Hull, Zahra Nazari, and Sung Won Yun, work in different media and engage in varying artistic discourses. Beall extends the language of Minimalism through an evocation of domestic objects; Hull transforms ancient epigraphs (wall and marble carving) into modern signifiers; Nazari draws on urban architecture to construct imagined landscapes; and Yun explores geologic time in paintings, drawings, and photographs.

All share the city as a source of inspiration, as well an an enthusiasm for sharing their knowledge with young art students. “There are so many things an emerging artist needs to understand!” says Nazari, who plans to share her everyday ethics: being curious, setting goals, and "developing a positive vocabulary" around the possibilities in art and in life. Hull volunteers, "I am excited to be
completely open and available for conversations about my practice, my career, life choices, teaching, and any aspect of being a working artist in New York.” 

The 2015 Artists in Residence will take part in an exhibition opening August 2nd at The Cooper Union.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.