ILLUSTRATOR, DESIGNER, EDUCATOR AND CHAIR OF BFA ILLUSTRATION & BFA COMICS AT SVA

Viktor Koen is an award winning illustrator, designer and educator. He holds a BFA in Design from the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem and an MFA in Illustration with honors from the School of Visual Arts. His client list includes the NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Esquire, Nature, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Wired, ESPN, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, Fortune, Money, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Penguin Random House, Doubleday, Harper Collins, Rizzoli, Houghton Mifflin, Tor Books, Atlantic Records, Virgin, BBC and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. 

He is the Chair of BFA Illustration and BFA Comics Departments at the School of Visual Arts and founded the SVA Illustration Residency in 2007. A TED speaker, Mr. Koen lectures for academic institutions and conferences worldwide while serving among others, on the Adobe Photoshop Advisory Council and the Photoville board of directors.

Distinctions include: American Illustration Awards, Graphis Gold Awards, 3×3 magazine Educator of the Year and the Communication Arts magazine Award of Excellence.

FOUNDER OF CREATIVE PLACEMENT, SOLUTIONIST, TALENT CONSULTANT AND EDUCATOR

Karl Heine is Founder and Solutionist at creativeplacement® — a cultivated, curated talent consultancy for the creative industry. Serving brands, agencies, and in-house departments in packaging, print, UI/UX, experiential design, and digital communications, creativeplacement secures opportunities for emerging and seasoned professionals.

He is also the Founder of DesignerJournals™, a custom notebook studio in Bridgeport, CT, utilizing recycled materials and local manufacturing. Clients: SVA, Yale School of the Environment, Pictoplasma, Type Directors Club, Type Drives Culture, Typo Berlin, Monotype, Design Observer, Better World by Design, Blue Buffalo, Yves Béhar, Typographics, lynda.com, Adobe, Megaglam, Richard Sachs, PIQ, WPKN, and Hagopian Ink.

For over 35 years, Karl has worked in the industry as a placement specialist, career coach, speaker, educator, designer, and maker. Faculty — School of Visual Arts teaching Professional Practices in the BFA/Illustration and BFA/Comics department, and Self Promotion in the Summer Illustration Residency Program. He has taught graphic design, typography, business practices, entrepreneurial portfolio, design thinking, self-promotional marketing, packaging design business, illustration marketplace, and product innovation.

Karl is also a frequent lecturer at design-focused institutions and industry associations, sharing his expertise in talent development, creativity, and the evolving landscape of design.

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DIRECTOR OF VISUAL ARTS | NYCPS

Joy Pace is the Director of Visual Arts, where she leads professional learning and provides ongoing support for visual arts educators across New York City. With a deep commitment to arts education for all, Joy advances initiatives that empower both teachers and students through meaningful, relevant, and culturally responsive instruction.

Joy received a grant from the Joe and Clara Tsai Social Justice Fund Foundation to develop a student-centered curriculum focused on the life and work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Now in its sixth year, the project amplifies student voice and choice, has grown into a sustained partnership, and culminates annually in a student exhibition at Barclays Center.

Joy began her career as the sole art teacher at PS 7 in East Harlem—an experience that continues to shape her belief in supporting arts educators at every stage of their careers. In her previous role as Brooklyn North Borough Arts Director, she collaborated with superintendents and principals to expand arts access and resources throughout the district.

She is passionate about ensuring that all students receive a high-quality arts education—one where teachers nurture individual voice, critical thinking, and reflection

ILLUSTRATOR AND AUTHOR

Andrea Tsurumi (they/them) is the Philly-based creator of the children's books Accident! (an NPR Great Read), Crab Cake (Vermont Red Clover Book Award), and I'm On It (an Elephant & Piggie Like Reading book) as well as the illustrator for numerous titles including Pop Goes the Nursery Rhyme, Embarrassed Ferret, My Head Has a Bellyache, Mr. Watson's Chickens, the Kondo & Kezumi series, and There's No Such Thing as Vegetables. They studied sequential storytelling for an English BA at Harvard and an MFA from SVA's Illustration as Visual Essay program. Also an indie cartoonist, they taught comics at PAFA's illustration program and SVA's summer artists residency. 

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ILLUSTRATOR, FINE ARTIST, EDUCATOR

David Elmo Cooper, hailing from Brooklyn, New York, discovered his love for art, specifically comic books, and graffiti, at a young age. After earning his BFA in Communication Design from Pratt Institute in 2000, he pursued successful careers as a photo director, illustrator, and educator. David is a dedicated father of two beautiful daughters who frequently accompany him in his studio, creating their own colorful masterpieces, while he works away on exciting projects. His work has been recognized by The Society of Illustrators, Society of Publication Designers, American Illustration and 3x3 Magazine.

GRAPHIC NOVEL ARTIST, WRITER, EDITOR, EDUCATOR

Carl Potts has worked as a comics/graphic novel artist, writer and editor for decades. During most of his 13 years on Marvel’s editorial staff, Carl was Executive Editor, overseeing a third of the company’s publications. He discovered and mentored many top talents including Jim Lee, June Brigman, Larry Stroman, Art Adams, Jon Bogdanove, Whilce Portacio and Scott Williams.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS | SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS

Jon Nutting is the Associate Director of Admissions at the School of Visual Arts (SVA). He is a designer, collage artist, and printmaker with an M.Ed. in Secondary Art Education. Before pursuing a career in Admissions, Jon taught studio art, photography, and digital studio at the secondary level in Massachusetts. He worked as an Admissions Counselor for the College of Art & Design at Lesley University before moving to New York, where he is celebrating his 14th year at SVA. Jon is part of the team preparing the College’s self-study for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. He also serves on the board for the National Portfolio Day Association (NPDA), coordinates programming for the Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival, and leads The Sci Fi Book Club.

EDUCATOR

Joanne Riina-Denune is an art educator with twenty years of experience working within the New York City Department of Education. She is currently the visual art teacher at NYC LAB School in Chelsea, where she teaches a design thinking course, in addition to a studio elective and portfolio prep course for seniors. Prior to this position, she taught visual art at LAB Middle School for fifteen years, where she established a partnership with The Whitney Museum and developed an original curriculum grounded in the creative process and connecting it across disciplines. She acquired her undergraduate degree from Pace University and her master's degree from the School of Visual Arts (MAT 2004). When life allows it, she develops her own craft through mixed media illustrations in her home in Brooklyn alongside her husband and eleven-year-old son

ART ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL AT EDWARD R MURROW HS

Spy Kontarinis is a dedicated educator and passionate advocate for the arts, currently serving as the Assistant Principal of Fine Arts and Career and Technical Education at Edward R. Murrow High School, a role she has embraced for the past 20 years. With 27 years of teaching experience, Spy has nurtured talent and fostered creativity among her students, guiding many of them into prestigious art schools where they can further develop their skills and pursue their passions. Spy's commitment to her students and the arts goes beyond the classroom; she continuously seeks innovative ways to integrate art into education, ensuring that the next generation of artists has the support and resources they need to succeed. Her journey from fashion designer to esteemed educator illustrates not only her versatility but also her unwavering dedication to empowering young minds through the transformative power of art.

AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATOR AND EDUCATOR

Doug Salatiis the creator of the picture book Hot Dog, recipient of the 2023 Randolph Caldecott Medal and Ezra Jack Keats Award, and named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews and the New York Public Library.  The first book he illustrated was In a Small Kingdom by Tomie dePaola, and his second, Lawrence in the Fall by Matthew Farina, was an Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Award Honoree, a Society of Illustrators Original Art Show selection and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection. Doug graduated from the MFA Illustration As Visual Essay Program at the School of Visual Arts in 2014. He was a 2015 Sendak Fellow. He lives and works in New York City.

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LCAT

Jamie currently works for Student Health & Counseling Services at SVA as a therapist. Jamie is thrilled to work with art students and educators and wants to be a lifetime advocate for artists' mental health. 

Jamie has been a NY licensed Creative Arts Therapist since 2016 with a social work and art education background. Jamie had experience working in high school, psychiatric hospitals, medical nursing homes, and women's shelters. Some of her specialties include depression treatment related to grief and loss, narrative art therapy for immigrants, individuals living with substance misuse, complex trauma, and/or other mental health diagnoses. 

Jamie believes creative arts are a powerful way to honor the beauty of one's culture, human resilience, and the uniqueness that each human can present.  

ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL AT ART & DESIGN HS

Ian Pasetsky is starting his 3rd year as the Assistant Principal of Art & CTE at the High School of Art & Design. Before beginning his tenure in administration, he was a CTE teacher at the school for 16 years, instructing students in photoshop, foundation art skills, graphic design, and cartooning. He has participated in the entrance exam portfolio review since he started in 2006 and is no less excited to begin his 19th year than he was for his previous 18. Additionally, Pasetsky helped revise the rubric (pre-covid) to be more inclusive and compiled the school’s entrance exam data for two years. Like all of the CTE pathway teachers at Art and Design, Pasetsky has industry experience, having worked in publishing for 9 years before switching over to the DOE. He has an MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design in Sequential Art and a BA in Art and English from SUNY Albany. Last but not least, he and his wife have two college age children, neither of whom are interested in a career in the arts.