Directors
Chair
Matt Rota. A graduate of The Maryland Institute College of Art and the School of Visual Art, Matt is an illustrator, author and instructor. He has spent the past 15 years working with clients in print and online including the New York Times, the New Yorker, Penguin Books, The LA Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, Smithsonian, Variety, Buzzfeed, and many others. His illustrations focus primarily on global politics, criminal justice, social inequality, immigration and poverty. Over the past ten years he has taught illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art and The School of Visual Arts. Matt has written two books on drawing, has an extensive exhibition career internationally, and is senior curator at Artreprenuer.com.
Secretary
Charlotte Sears is a technical writer and web developer who works with artists and other small businesses. Charlotte brings to her work a passion for good design and a love for the practice of making. She was educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Hunter College in NYC.
Treasurer
Born and raised on the East Coast, Kristin Kunc earned her B.A. at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. She continued her educational pursuits at the Water Street Atelier in New York, where she graduated from an intensive four-year study in realistic painting. Thereafter, she developed a scopious artistic practice, teaching painting and drawing throughout New York City and Long Island, curating a wide range of art shows and events in spaces such as the Gowanus Ballroom and the National Arts Club, restoring art (most notably, a piece by Banksy), and, of course, creating her own artwork. Kristin's paintings have been featured in many prominent collections across the U.S. and have received much critical acclaim. Prior to launching her real estate career, Kristin also helped run the family design and build firm Serett Metalworks.
Savona Bailey-McClain is a Harlem based curator and arts administrator. She is the Executive Director/Chief Curator of the West Harlem Art Fund, which has organized high-profile public arts exhibits throughout New York City for the past 20 years, including Times Square, DUMBO, Soho, Governors Island and Harlem. Her public art installations encompass sculpture, drawings, performance, sound, and mixed media, and have been covered extensively by the New York Times, Art Daily, Artnet, Los Angeles Times and Huffington Post, among many others. She is also the host/ producer of "State of the Arts NYC," a podcast program on Podyssey, Radio Public, Youtube, Mixcloud and other audio platforms. She is a member of ArtTable, Advisory Board member of NYC's Dance in Sacred Places, Governors Island Advisory Council and new Committee member of the African Dream Network.
Alaiyo Bradshaw has worked as a fine artist and illustrator for over 30 years and her career teaching art at the college level began in 1995. Teaching art history, painting, digital design, printmaking, and clay building has afforded Bradshaw a wide range of experiences sharing her knowledge. She has taught at Long Island University, Montclair State, Montclair Art Museum, and for over 20 years at Parsons School of Design. She is currently a Professor of Fine Arts and Director of the First Year program of over 300 faculty and 1400 students. Throughout her time at Parsons, she has built a new art and design curriculum. Bradshaw now manages the operations of the First Year and oversees effective curriculum delivery, maintaining and developing academic and pedagogical capacities with faculty throughout the program, building faculty culture, and understanding and meeting evolving student needs and interests. In addition, she is the Vice President of the Brooklyn Watercolor Society, a prestigious body of long-standing signature artists. Her role on the executive board is to oversee our programming for our associate members, help plan our events, and organize guest speakers and gallery exhibitions along with the President, Treasurer, and Secretary
Jim Osman is Brooklyn-based sculptor and educator.
Born in New York City, Osman received his BA and MFA from Queens College, CUNY. His work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, the Queens Museum, the New York Public Library, and Dartmouth College, among other institutions. He has been awarded residencies at MacDowell and Yaddo and received a NYFA Artist Fellowship in Craft/Sculpture in 2017. Osman taught at Parsons School of Design for 22 years, retiring in 2021, and served as president of American Abstract Artists from 2018 to 2024.
STAFF
Executive Director
Michael Gormley assumed the leadership position at NYAE in 2017, bringing to bear over thirty years of art world experience. Limbo Lounge, a pivotal East Village art and performance space he founded in 1980, was his inaugural foray into the New York art scene. Since that time Gormley has held key posts in galleries, professional arts organizations, academic institutions and media enterprises including VP of Education, Institute of Classical Architecture & Art; Associate Director of Fine Art, The National Arts Club; Curator, Portraits, Inc.; Dean, The New York Academy of Art and Editor-in Chief and Content Strategist, Artists Magazine. In addition to his curatorial and administrative work at NYAE, he is a frequent contributor to NYAE’s blog and maintains an fine art studio practice in painting.
Joey’s title
Joey Vadapalas is a New York-based arts administrator with a background in gallery management, exhibition production, and artist support. He currently serves as Associate Director of Equity Gallery and New York Artist Equity Association, where he oversees member services, exhibition coordination, and the gallery’s communications and outreach.
Over the past decade, Joey has worked behind the scenes with artists, galleries, and institutions including ODETTA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and several artist studios. His experience spans installation, art handling, archiving, curatorial research, and digital content strategy. He holds a B.A. in Art History from Hunter College, where he also completed extensive coursework in photography and drawing. Outside of work, he’s passionate about film, music, and community-based projects..