Welcome to our 2023-2024 postgraduate fellows

This semester, the Yale School of Art is welcoming three MFA program alums back to New Haven as postgraduate fellows, through ongoing partnerships across campus:

Newly graduated alum of the Photography program, Natalie Ivis, MFA ‘23, is the '23-24 Postgraduate Fellow in Photography. Ivis is teaching an undergraduate course “Photographic Storytelling”—a course that introduces students to the various elements of photographic storytelling, artistic styles, and practices of successful visual narratives. Through Yale Pathways to Arts & Humanities, Ivis is continuing to work with high school students in New Haven throughout the '23-24 academic year. Part of which involves being a co-instructor for a six-month photography program, “The View From Here”, for high school students from greater New Haven organized by the Yale Center for British Art.

Another recent alum, Paloma Izquierdo, MFA '23, of the Sculpture program, will work as the SoA/CCAM Postgraduate Fellow—a role developed in collaboration with the Center for Collaborative Arts and Media.

In collaboration with the Schools of Environment and Architecture, Daniel Pizarro, MFA '12, was selected to be the 2023-2024 School of Art’s Climate Engagement Fellow. Last year, Pizarro served as the Communications Design Fellow and continues his engagement in the second iteration of the Climate Engagement Through Art in Cities initiative. As part of his ongoing work, Pizarro seeks to collaborate with other local artists to promote community engagement and public art centered on climate change and the built environment. He plans on establishing a partnership with the City of New Haven to design a digital platform that links building owners to artists via a mural registry.

About Natalie Ivis

Natalie Ivis is a photographer based in New Haven, CT. She received an MFA in Photography from Yale University in 2023. Her work engages with moments of intimacy and human connection. Natalie is interested in creating images as a way of understanding complex relationships, often pulling from personal narratives, she aims to create quiet moments of contemplation from chaotic environments. She is a former editor and producer at Magnum Photos. Her work has been featured in the New York Times Magazine.

About Paloma Izquierdo

Paloma Izquierdo is a Cuban American sculptor who lives and works between New Haven and New York. Her work mirrors and distorts public and private infrastructures. She holds a BFA from The Cooper Union and an MFA in Sculpture from Yale. She collaborates with Kyle Richardson on Fulanita.

About Daniel Pizarro

In collaboration with the Schools of Environment and Architecture, Daniel Pizarro, MFA ‘12, was selected to be a 2023-2024 School of Art’s Climate Engagement Fellow. Last year, Pizarro served as the Communications Design Fellow and continues his engagement in the second iteration of the Climate Engagement Through Art in Cities initiative. As part of his ongoing work, Pizarro seeks to collaborate with other local artists to promote community engagement and public art centered on climate change and the built environment. He plans on establishing a partnership with the City of New Haven to design a digital platform that links building owners to artists via a mural registry.

Daniel Pizarro (he/él) is a New Haven-based artist/designer and Creative Director at For La Diáspora, a creative studio that connects brands to the Latine community through culturally-driven design and bilingual communications. Daniel’s family immigrated from Chile to Los Angeles, where he was born and raised. His lived experiences ground his creative practice to support community-centered design solutions based on local knowledge and expertise. He is a Yale Climate Engagement Fellow, an interdisciplinary collaboration among the Yale School of Art; Architecture; and Environment that explores public engagement of climate change through art and design. During the Covid-19 era, his work addressed complex social issues in the Latine community, including vaccine equity and the housing evictions crisis. Daniel received his MFA in Graphic Design from the Yale School of Art and BA from UCLA Design Media Arts. After Yale, Daniel worked for 6 years as a Design and Technology Fellow for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) where he developed bilingual communications and branding strategies to strengthen consumer advocacy, economic justice, and new legislation efforts following the US financial crisis in 2008. Early in his career, while working as the Director of Design and New Technologies at Peace Over Violence, Daniel helped develop an award-winning national sexual violence prevention and education campaign that drew millions to participate and helped overturn the largest rape kit backlog in the US in 2010. Daniel has exhibited his work internationally at the Brno Biennial and published in Graphic magazine. He has received funding from the National Arts Strategies, National Endowment for the Arts, and New Haven Arts Council.