Austin Thomas is an artist and curator known for her significant contributions to the New York art scene. Holding a BFA in Psychology and Women's Studies and an MA in Studio Arts from NYU, she has over 20 years of experience in diverse art-related roles, including working in nonprofit art spaces, galleries, and museums. Thomas recently reopened Pocket Utopia, an artist-run curatorial project, to focus on community building and mentoring artists. In 2016, she unveiled a permanent public sculpture in Brooklyn, commissioned by NYC's Percent for Art Program, which now serves as a multifunctional outdoor plaza. Thomas has completed public commissions for the Public Art Fund and Grinnell College, and her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Renowned publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Hyperallergic have reviewed her exhibitions. Her works are part of esteemed collections at Grinnell College Museum of Art, The Corcoran Legacy Collection at American University, the Hoggard Wagner Collection, and the New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Thomas has had several solo exhibitions at the Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York and Municipal Bonds in San Francisco.

Shayan Nazarian is a Brooklyn-based Iranian painter.  He earned his BA in architecture at Azad University in Iran and his MFA in painting at Boston University.  He has been influenced by psychoanalysis, German philosophy, and several art movements such as Dadaism and French New Wave.  More recently, his expansive interests in the turmoil of social conditions and political landscapes continue to expand his interdisciplinary research and human-centric practice through painting, sculpture, video, and photography.  Nazarian has exhibited in New York City, Boston, MA, and his home country, Iran, including the Morgan Lehman Gallery, Stone Gallery, and Piano Craft Gallery.  He’s currently working as a director at Pocket Utopia Gallery.