NYFA
Faculty Directory

Faculty Directory

Ana Paula Tizzi Riis

Ana Paula Tizzi Riis is a Brazilian-born visual artist residing in New York City. Her creative work is inspired by her surroundings and experiences, with a keen eye for capturing the essence of life. Ana Paula is also involved in numerous editorial projects and with technology research. Her unique talent and vision have been featured in high-profile publications such as Vogue, Marie Claire, Kate Spade, Coach, Cut magazine, New York Times, and Sony Creator. Additionally, Ana Paula serves as an instructor at the New York Film Academy New York Campus.

Saul Robbins

Saul Robbins is interested in the ways people interact within their surroundings and the psychological dynamics of intimacy. His photographs are motivated by observations of human behavior and personal experience, especially those related to loss, unity, failure, and the latent potential residing in traditional photographic materials and personal history. Robbins is best known for “Initial Intake”, which examines the empty chairs of Manhattan-based psychotherapy professionals from their clients’ perspective, and “How Can I Help? – An Artful Dialogue”, a pop-up office into which he invites strangers to speak with him about anything they wish for free, and in complete confidence.

Robbins’ work has been exhibited and published internationally. He received his MFA from Hunter College of the City University of New York, where he studied under Roy DeCarava and is Adjunct Professor of Photography at International Center of Photography, NYFA, and SVA. He also consults privately and leads Master Workshops about communication strategies and professional development. His work can be viewed at: www.saulrobbins.com and @Saul.Robbins on Instagram.

Natasha Rudenko

Natasha Rudenko is a photographer and an educator, and has exhibited her work internationally. Her work was part of a few group shows in New York, Los Angeles, Moscow, Budapest and some others as well as a few annual publications of feminist and queer art, including Issues II and Femme Fotale Volume III Analog and Femme Fotale Volume IV Leafless.

In her work Rudenko interprets her personal experience as a human being. She addresses self-reflection and investigates the realm of her feelings and emotions. Through being honest and personal she aims to make people relate to the ideas explored in her work and provoke their own self-reflection. Rudenko also believes art education can change the world and make it a better place. MFA, New York Film Academy.

Gerald Slota

GERALD SLOTA is a fine artist and photographer who has been widely exhibited across the US and abroad. He has had solo shows at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, and Langhans Galerie in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as been shown at Recontres D’ Arles in Arles, France. Slota has had multiple solo exhibits at Ricco/Maresca Gallery in NYC and is represented by the Robert Berman Gallery in Los Angeles. His images have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times Magazine, Vice, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Harper’s, and Scientific America, as well as in BOMB, Artforum, ARTNEWS, Art in America, and Aperture. He has lectured at many institutions such as the International Center for Photography (ICP). Gerald Slota has garnered many awards including a Polaroid 20”x24” Grant, a MacDowell Artist Residency, and a Mid-Atlantic Fellowship Grant in 2001, 2009 and 2021.

John Tona

John Tona is a photographer and artist based in New York City. He uses photographic portraiture to investigate human nature and consciousness. His work employs strategies ranging from social-documentary, tableau, and reinterpretations of the portrait.

His most recent and ongoing project, (A)typical Typology, depicts pairs of people from each country of the world without cultural elements such as clothing, makeup, or other man-made products, leaving only the individual as the unique identifier. As a result, the lines of race and culture are de-emphasized, leaving us to consider the subjects more simply, as members of the human race.

In addition to publications in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes, his work has been exhibited at Art Space Artion, The Canson Gallery, and the Jeonju International Photo Festival in Seoul, South Korea as well as Art Basel in Miami Florida and Photoville in Brooklyn New York.

John is a graduate of the one-year photography conservatory at the New York Film Academy.

Thomas Werner

Thomas is the author of the books The Business of Fine Art Photography, Routledge, New York, and The Fashion Image for Bloomsbury Publishing, London. A creative consultant, Thomas works one on one with students, creatives, businesses, cultural institutions, and not for profits helping them refine their communications, and achieve their goals in fashion and fine arts. He is a contributor to Adobe’s Lightroom Academy, an Editor at Large for IRKmagazine, a Paris based fashion and culture magazine and website, founder of Thomas Werner Projects Podcast, the Global Editorial Director at Les Loupes des Steppes Publishing, and past Photography Program Director at Parsons School of Design in New York. Werner also led a team developing a media and literacy web site and resource center in five languages, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic and English for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations/UNESCO.

He is the former owner of Thomas Werner Gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea Art District, and a former National Board member and NY Chapter President for the American Society of Media Photographers. He has worked with the United States Department of State on cultural projects in Russia, and been a photography consultant for COACH and Rodale Publishing, among others. Thomaswernerprojects.com @Thomaswernerprojects

Naomi White

Naomi White is a feminist, artist, activist, and educator invested in ideas at the intersection of political ecology and photography. She is the winner of PDN’s Objects of Desire award and has exhibited throughout North America and Europe, including the Center for Creative Photography, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, GE World Headquarters; CAMP Gallery, Scope Miami, and Photo LA. She has been awarded residencies at Jentel Arts and Artist Residencies in Motherhood.

Her work has been published in PDN, The Brooklyn Rail, Uncertain States, and On Art & Aesthetics. White holds an MFA in Photography and Related Media from SVA in New York, and a BA in English Literature from San Francisco State.

Suné Woods

Suné Woods work takes the form of video installations, movement, photography, and collage. Woods is invested in holistic healing modalities and the wisdom that comes through interspecies relationships.

Woods has served as Visiting Faculty in the CalArts Photography & Media Program, Visiting Lecturer in the department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University, and as Visiting Associate Professor at University of California Los Angeles in the department of Art.

Andrew Young

Andrew Young is an award-winning filmmaker, photographer, and professor based in New York City. His visual and lighting work has been featured in film festivals all over the world: from New York, Seoul, Edinburgh, and Cannes. Andrew loves hitting the campaign trail, having filmed and photographed progressive candidates like Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Congressman Joe Kennedy.

Andrew has an MFA in Cinematography from Boston University, and is now thrilled to be teaching film, photography, and visual storytelling at NYFA and SUNY WCC.

His creative work centers around the concept of magical realism, or finding meaning and magic in mundane things.

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