Running For: Alumni Council, Nominating Committee

Alyssa Davis BSE’15

Personal Statement

I am honored to be nominated to join the Cooper Union Alumni Council and excited to have the opportunity to strengthen and support the Cooper Union and our alumni community.

As a graduate of the engineering school with a life-long proclivity towards the arts, I pursued the only interdisciplinary engineering degree offered at Cooper Union. During my time at Cooper Union I was taking courses in all three schools, an active organizer and participant in the engineering extracurriculars and experimental programs and exhibited in a number of student shows with my peers in the art school. I was a Benjamin Menschel Fellow in 2014 and was awarded the Harold S. Goldberg Prize for Technical Leadership in Engineering in 2015.

Currently, I run a contemporary art gallery in New York City, a venture shaped by my studies and the community I encountered at Cooper Union. My most recent exhibition, Waist Management, was a solo show featuring Cooper Union graduate Martina Cox.

When I attended, Cooper Union was a tuition-free institution, fueled by the commitment of faculty and students—something increasingly rare today. As a beneficiary of this extraordinary education, I feel a deep responsibility to help preserve its legacy. I am grateful for the opportunities Cooper Union provided and I am committed to ensuring future students receive the same. I look forward to applying my experience as a curator and producer to connect and engage the Cooper Union alumni network.

Biography

Alyssa Davisis a New York-based curator and founder of her eponymous gallery, showing primarily sculpture with a focus on movements after Post-Internet. Since the gallery was established in 2016 she has presented 12 solo shows with artists such as Genevieve Goffman, Abby Lloyd, Martina Cox, Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack, Sophie Friedman-Pappas, Bora Akinciturk and Ed Fornieles. The gallery has organized contemporary art, performance and music events, including the 1500-person gala Merde! in 2022 at 99 Scott. Alyssa Davis Gallery curates sites, exhibitions and events focusing on solo and duo presentations with contemporary artists and is committed to engaging specific historical sites based on the body of work being introduced.