Artists.
Devin N. Morris (born 1986; Baltimore, MD) utilizes mixed media paintings, photographs, writings, and videos to collapse personal experience, memory, and space to delicately envision new realms. Currently based in Brooklyn, NY, the artist considers his personal experience navigating the world as a black queer man in his depictions of real and imagined characters engaged in acts of kindness and care. His explorations of the domestic space, including collage and immersive environments, place the viewer inside abstracted rooms that subvert traditional values and social boundaries. Morris was recently in The Aesthetics of Matter, the first NYC curatorial project by Deux Femme Noires: Mickalene Thomas and Racquel Chevremont. He was also featured in the New Museum’s MOTHA and Chris E. Vargas: Consciousness Razing—The Stonewall Re-Memorialization Project, and the two-person show, Inside Out, Here, at La Mama Gallery in New York.
Partner Engineer: Ben Matusow
Hadi Fallahpisheh (born 1987; Tehran, Iran) works primarily with photography, as well as performance and installation to destabilize visions of a stable and singular subject. Often commenting on conditions of displacement, his work questions the ability of representation to convey truths, revealing the gaps between public perception and personal experience. Fallahpisheh moved to New York in 2014, and received an MFA in Photography from Bard College in 2016. He is a graduate of the Creative Practices Program in Photography at the ICP, New York. He has presented work at venues including Simone Subal, Kai Matsumaiya, Off Vendome, ICP, Page, and Callicoon Fine Arts, in NYC and in Tehran at Delgosha Gallery, Dastan Gallery and Maryam Harandi Gallery, among others.
Partner Engineer: Adam A. Atia
Devin N. Morris (born 1986; Baltimore, MD) utilizes mixed media paintings, photographs, writings, and videos to collapse personal experience, memory, and space to delicately envision new realms. Currently based in Brooklyn, NY, the artist considers his personal experience navigating the world as a black queer man in his depictions of real and imagined characters engaged in acts of kindness and care. His explorations of the domestic space, including collage and immersive environments, place the viewer inside abstracted rooms that subvert traditional values and social boundaries. Morris was recently in The Aesthetics of Matter, the first NYC curatorial project by Deux Femme Noires: Mickalene Thomas and Racquel Chevremont. He was also featured in the New Museum’s MOTHA and Chris E. Vargas: Consciousness Razing—The Stonewall Re-Memorialization Project, and the two-person show, Inside Out, Here, at La Mama Gallery in New York.
Partner Engineer: Ben MatusowHadi Fallahpisheh (born 1987; Tehran, Iran) works primarily with photography, as well as performance and installation to destabilize visions of a stable and singular subject. Often commenting on conditions of displacement, his work questions the ability of representation to convey truths, revealing the gaps between public perception and personal experience. Fallahpisheh moved to New York in 2014, and received an MFA in Photography from Bard College in 2016. He is a graduate of the Creative Practices Program in Photography at the ICP, New York. He has presented work at venues including Simone Subal, Kai Matsumaiya, Off Vendome, ICP, Page, and Callicoon Fine Arts, in NYC and in Tehran at Delgosha Gallery, Dastan Gallery and Maryam Harandi Gallery, among others.
Partner Engineer: Adam A. Atia
Jillian Mayer (born 1984; Miami, FL) calls upon drawing, photography, video, installation, and performance to focus on topics of identity, technology, and the Internet, Mayer has had solo exhibitions at Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT and Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL. She has participated in global exhibitions at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Miami, FL; Girls’ Club Collection, Fort Lauderdale, FL; 2014 La Biennale de Montreal, Montreal, QC; Miami Dade College’s Museum of Art + Design, Miami, FL; Young Art Museum, Davie, FL; Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; National Center for Contemporary Art, Russia among others. Mayer received her BFA from Florida International University.
Partner Engineer:Verizon Innovation Learning School students
Summer Wheat (born 1977; Oklahoma City, OK) creates tactile paintings that merge process and narrative to ponder individual and collective human experience as seen through various moments in art history. Recent solo exhibitions include Smack Mellon, New York (2018); Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York (2018); Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle (2017); Braverman Gallery, Tel Aviv (2017); and Oklahoma Contemporary, Oklahoma City (2016). Her work has been featured in recent museum exhibitions, including ICA Collection: Expanding the Field of Painting, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2013–14); Paint Things: Beyond the Stretcher, deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (2013); and Paradox Maintenance Technicians: A Comprehensive Manual to Contemporary Painting from Los Angeles and Beyond, Torrance Art Museum (2013). Wheat currently lives and works in Ridgewood, Queens. She received a BA from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design.
Partner Engineer: Anne Shellum
Jillian Mayer (born 1984; Miami, FL) calls upon drawing, photography, video, installation, and performance to focus on topics of identity, technology, and the Internet, Mayer has had solo exhibitions at Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT and Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL. She has participated in global exhibitions at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Miami, FL; Girls’ Club Collection, Fort Lauderdale, FL; 2014 La Biennale de Montreal, Montreal, QC; Miami Dade College’s Museum of Art + Design, Miami, FL; Young Art Museum, Davie, FL; Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; National Center for Contemporary Art, Russia among others. Mayer received her BFA from Florida International University.
Partner Engineer:Verizon Innovation Learning School students
Summer Wheat (born 1977; Oklahoma City, OK) creates tactile paintings that merge process and narrative to ponder individual and collective human experience as seen through various moments in art history. Recent solo exhibitions include Smack Mellon, New York (2018); Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York (2018); Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle (2017); Braverman Gallery, Tel Aviv (2017); and Oklahoma Contemporary, Oklahoma City (2016). Her work has been featured in recent museum exhibitions, including ICA Collection: Expanding the Field of Painting, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2013–14); Paint Things: Beyond the Stretcher, deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (2013); and Paradox Maintenance Technicians: A Comprehensive Manual to Contemporary Painting from Los Angeles and Beyond, Torrance Art Museum (2013). Wheat currently lives and works in Ridgewood, Queens. She received a BA from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design.
Partner Engineer: Anne Shellum
Engineers.
Anne Shellum is a mechanical engineer at BuroHappold Engineering. She is dedicated to creating a sustainable future through the built environment and believes that our urban spaces can be designed to benefit us without negatively impacting our natural surroundings. Anne’s experience includes consulting for a wide range of high performance building and city-scale projects, with a particular emphasis on energy and climate. She also serves as a co-chair for the AIANY Committee on the Environment, and an Adjunct Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
Partner Artist: Summer Wheat
Students of the more than 100 Verizon Innovative Learning Schools nationwide are learning to do more -- preparing to innovate and drive positive change for the next generation. Through a next-generation, technology-infused curriculum backed by 5G technology and cutting-edge tech tools, VILS schools are helping to close the technology divide to ensure all our young people can thrive in today’s digital economy. Virtual and augmented reality. Advanced, low-latency robotics. And immersive collaboration experiences. By interacting with transformative technologies like these, our students are preparing for tomorrow’s digital world. Climate solutions and sustainability are themes that are extremely important to VILS students as they are with most young people. Participating in Engineers & Artists is just one more way our students are engaging with their communities and thinking about ways to innovate and create a positive future together.
Partner Artist: Jillian Mayer
Anne Shellum is a mechanical engineer at BuroHappold Engineering. She is dedicated to creating a sustainable future through the built environment and believes that our urban spaces can be designed to benefit us without negatively impacting our natural surroundings. Anne’s experience includes consulting for a wide range of high performance building and city-scale projects, with a particular emphasis on energy and climate. She also serves as a co-chair for the AIANY Committee on the Environment, and an Adjunct Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
Partner Artist: Summer Wheat
Students of the more than 100 Verizon Innovative Learning Schools nationwide are learning to do more -- preparing to innovate and drive positive change for the next generation. Through a next-generation, technology-infused curriculum backed by 5G technology and cutting-edge tech tools, VILS schools are helping to close the technology divide to ensure all our young people can thrive in today’s digital economy. Virtual and augmented reality. Advanced, low-latency robotics. And immersive collaboration experiences. By interacting with transformative technologies like these, our students are preparing for tomorrow’s digital world. Climate solutions and sustainability are themes that are extremely important to VILS students as they are with most young people. Participating in Engineers & Artists is just one more way our students are engaging with their communities and thinking about ways to innovate and create a positive future together.
Partner Artist: Jillian Mayer
Adam A. Atia is a Ph.D. candidate in the Earth & Environmental Engineering department at Columbia University. Adam was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to study the potential for flexible desalination processes powered by renewable energy, which can mitigate water scarcity while avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Earth System Science & Environmental Engineering from the City College of New York and his Master of Science degree in Earth & Environmental Engineering from Columbia University. Adam’s overall goal is to work on sustainable solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, with a specific interest in the intersection between energy and water infrastructure.
Partner Artist: Hadi Fallahpisheh
Ben Matusow is a facilities consultant at Insight Civil. While at Insight Civil, he has been involved in collecting and preparing data for energy audits in NYC public schools, as directed by Local Law 87 of 2009. Currently working on a master’s of science degree in Sustainable Environmental Systems at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, he enjoys inching humanity toward a more harmonious relationship with the planet. This has led to various positions in food justice, small-scale farming, and environmental education, as well as his current academic and career path. Thinking critically about how our choices affect our environment and our future as a species is one of Ben’s greatest passions and will surely shape his future career trajectory. Ben holds a B.A. in Psychology from Skidmore College and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Partner Artist: Devin N. Morris
Adam A. Atia is a Ph.D. candidate in the Earth & Environmental Engineering department at Columbia University. Adam was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to study the potential for flexible desalination processes powered by renewable energy, which can mitigate water scarcity while avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Earth System Science & Environmental Engineering from the City College of New York and his Master of Science degree in Earth & Environmental Engineering from Columbia University. Adam’s overall goal is to work on sustainable solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, with a specific interest in the intersection between energy and water infrastructure.
Partner Artist: Hadi Fallahpisheh
Ben Matusow is a facilities consultant at Insight Civil. While at Insight Civil, he has been involved in collecting and preparing data for energy audits in NYC public schools, as directed by Local Law 87 of 2009. Currently working on a master’s of science degree in Sustainable Environmental Systems at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, he enjoys inching humanity toward a more harmonious relationship with the planet. This has led to various positions in food justice, small-scale farming, and environmental education, as well as his current academic and career path. Thinking critically about how our choices affect our environment and our future as a species is one of Ben’s greatest passions and will surely shape his future career trajectory. Ben holds a B.A. in Psychology from Skidmore College and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Partner Artist: Devin N. Morris
Network Assurance Engineer III, Verizon Wireless
Vik Singh is a Network Assurance engineer with Verizon in Sacramento, where he loves his job. If he wasn't an engineer he'd do it as a hobby. Lately, he has been very involved with Verizon 5G deployment in the Sacramento area, which is one of the first markets for Verizon 5G.
Partner Artist: Tavarus Blackmon