Instructor

Josette Urso, M.F.A., University of South Florida. Recipient of awards including a Gottlieb Award (2013), two Pollock-Krasner Foundation grants, the Mid-Atlantic NEA and the Basil H. Alkazzi Award. Residencies include Yaddo, Stock 20, Taiwan; AIEP American Artist's Abroad, Cambodia; Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ireland; Camargo Foundation, France; Ucross; Millay and the VCCA. In New York City, her artwork has been shown at the Drawing Center, the Bronx Museum, Markel Fine Arts, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Storefront, Norte Maar, DFN Gallery, Julie Saul Gallery, lyonswiergallery and in Chicago at the Gescheidle Gallery. 

Vera van de Seyp

Vera van de Seyp is a computational designer and educator. Her work explores generative design tools, computational typography, and using artificial intelligence for design. She has collaborated with clients like WIRED, Signal, and Google Creative Lab. She also teaches and gives workshops and lectures to inspire creatives to make (and code) their own design tools. Vera completed a Research Assistantship with the Future Sketches group at MIT Media Lab.

Natalie Westbrook

Natalie Westbrook received her BFA from The Cooper Union in NYC, and received her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University where she was awarded the Robert Schoelkopf Memorial Travel Grant, and the Carol Schlosberg Memorial Prize for Excellence in Painting. Her vivid paintings and sculptures draw from direct observations in nature and the subconscious. Westbrook has exhibited internationally, including shows with The Hole, Los Angeles, CA; Freight+Volume, New York, NY; Mindy Solomon, Miami, FL; Rarity Gallery, Mykonos, Greece; OMNI, London, UK; and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The artist’s work is held in private and public collections, including Markel Corporation, Red Bank, NJ; Capital One, Richmond, VA; and Art Bank Program, US Department of State, Washington, DC; and Haleakala National Park, Maui, HI. Westbrook has lectured at Yale University (2010-2018), the University of Hartford, CT, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Carnegie Mellon University. Westbrook’s work is featured in WhiteHot Magazine and more can be seen at https://nataliewestbrook.com

Douglas Riccardi

Douglas Riccardi is the owner and Creative Director of Memo Productions, a Manhattan-based agency specializing in branding for culinary entrepreneurs working on food halls, brands poised for growth, and restaurant startups. Memo’s work spans the gamut from high-end single-unit restaurants to multiple-unit fast casual concepts. Memo helps clients express their mission, fuel connections with their customers, and create sustainability. His favorite foods are: Chiles rellenos, a classic fried shrimp basket, his mother’s chicken parmigiana, and any cocktail containing tequila. He also bakes a mean linzer tart. Follow Douglas on Instagram @memonewyork

  • 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.