Forest For Trees presents Saplings
A group exhibition featuring alumni of the CUE Teen Collective

August 2–31, 2025
Saturdays & Sundays, 11 am–5 pm
Or by appointment (contact hello@forestfortreescollective.com)
Nolan Park House 7B, Governors Island, NYC

Opening Reception: Saturday, August 2nd, 12–5 pm

With works by: Olivia Coward, Erin Enriquez, Tatiana Estrin, Angela Morcos, Natalie Niselson, Zoe Opdyke, Melanie Quiroz, Tiffany Ruan, Finlay Williams

CUE is proud to participate in Saplings, a group exhibition organized by Forest For Trees Collective that exhibits work by New York City youth, including alumni from the CUE Teen Collective. The exhibition brings together young artists to amplify their perspectives on climate justice.

Saplings centers the work and words of a generation of artists heavily impacted by corporate greed, the fossil fuel industry, greenwashing, harmful climate policies, and the extractive systems that shape our communities, ecosystems, and daily lives. The exhibition holds space for their demands, inviting us to witness the seeds of transformative resistance they are planting—and to stand alongside them in building a more just, sustainable future.

About the Organizers
Forest For Trees Collective is a volunteer-run ecofeminist collective using art and education to explore climate issues. The collective works with emerging and established artists from all disciplines and encourages creative, original responses to environmental prompts, with a focus on sustainability and material impact. The collective does not work strictly with environmental artists, but rather seeks to engage artists working across subjects, who can meet the collective’s prompts with a truly unique lens.

Saplings is curated by Forest for Trees Collective members Hanna Tudor and Shirley Yu.

About CUE Teen Collective
CUE Teen Collective (CTC) is a free, year-long after-school program for high school students who are passionate about the visual arts. The program combines field learning, studio practice, and exhibition making to demystify careers in the arts and expose young artists to methods of practice that further their professional goals. Students investigate various aspects of the contemporary art world, develop their artmaking and critical thinking skills, and conceptualize and create artwork for a group exhibition presented at CUE’s gallery space.

CUE’s presentation for Saplings is curated by Jasmine Buckley, CUE’s Gallery Associate.

About the Artists
Olivia Coward grew up in New York and Singapore, and is currently a first-year student at Yale University. Seeking to better understand herself and the communities she belongs to, Coward’s recent artistic work includes interventions such as weaving a 14-foot tapestry out of her family’s old clothing, sewing found objects from her home into placemats, and destroying a globe-shaped piñata filled with her trash. Working with indigenous students in Renhe, Taiwan, she facilitated a workshop culminating in an exhibition of students’ artwork at her high school in the Bronx that explored language, family, and the environment. Coward has won three gold keys, one silver key, and seven honorable mentions from the Scholastic Art Award, and her work has been exhibited at CUE Art, David Zwirner, and The Met’s Center for Education.

Erin Enriquez is a Filipino-American seventeen-year-old high school student at County Prep High School. She is based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and her practice is primarily in multimedia and acrylic painting. Her work has been featured in several issues of TeenInk Magazine, Dear Asian Youth’s “Let The Light In” Zine, the Hudson County Teen Arts Festival, JC Print Room’s Menagerie exhibition, and the Jersey City Birds art show. Enriquez attends a vocational high school as a Computer Programming major, but aspires to make the arts an intrinsic part of her life. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting, coding, and podcasts.

Tatiana Estrin is a Brooklyn-based artist who explores contemporary ideas through visual storytelling. She is currently a junior at the Rhode Island School of Design, majoring in Illustration. Her work has been recognized by Marc Jacobs Fragrances and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. She has also exhibited work at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Macy’s flagship location in Herald Square, CUE Art, and BRIC. Estrin has worked as a studio assistant for several New York City-based artists, and she is currently an intern at Pace Gallery.

Angela Morcos is a nineteen-year-old Egyptian-American student from Brooklyn, New York, currently attending the Sophie Davis BS/MD program at City College. She has presented creative work at research conferences, where she designed visually engaging posters and contributed to animating research hypotheses. She enjoys creating work in multiple mediums, including sculpture, textile, digital art, jewelry, photography, and music. Since childhood, she has played the ukulele and honed her vocal skills in choir, and she is now a member of her school’s music group, Sophie’s Beats. Even though she maintains a professional practice, Morcos is still a kid at heart, and loves cartoons, films, and comics. She aspires to create her own animated film to bring others the same joy that these mediums have brought her.

Natalie Niselson is a visual artist and graphic designer whose dynamic work unites creative practice with profound emotional depth. A passionate and dedicated student, Natalie is currently pursuing a degree in Graphic Design and Marketing at Adelphi University. Her artistic journey has been enriched by internships with the Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival, Cooper Hewitt Museum’s Design Hive program, and the CUE Teen Collective, where she gained valuable experience in various aspects of the fine arts and design practice. Niselson was awarded first place in the 2022 Congressional Art Competition, for which her work was exhibited at the United States Capitol. She had also been awarded a Scholastic Gold Key that resulted in her work being exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Additionally, her work earned finalist recognition and was exhibited at the SCOPE Art Fair in Miami during Art Basel. Niselson is committed to exploring the world around her through her artwork, and sees her practice as a way to reflect what she sees and feels. She hopes to connect with others and share something honest and meaningful through her work.

Zoe Opdyke grew up in Ridgewood, Queens. She is currently seventeen years old and a rising senior at the Institute for Collaborative Education. She is an awardee of the 2025 New York Public Library’s National Teen Art Contest, and has participated in several art programs, that include painting murals with Groundswell Community Mural Project and contributing to group exhibitions and showcases. She aspires to pursue a career in filmmaking, with a particular interest in directing. Her artistic practice encompasses drawing, painting, collage, and ceramics. Opdyke is a member of her school’s soccer team, and enjoys cooking, baking, and occasionally playing music. 

Melanie Quiroz (she/they) is an eighteen-year-old first generation Mexican American artist, filmmaker, college student, and after school teacher from the South Bronx. Her love for art began with traditional mediums, using materials such as acrylic paint, watercolor, charcoal, and oil pastels. After entering high school, she developed an immense love and understanding for film, and decided to pursue it in college while maintaining and incorporating her visual arts practice. Quiroz’s work is imbued with elements of her culture, the values and lessons of her mentors, and the everyday. Since her participation in the CUE Teen Collective, she has created two films at The School of Visual Arts while attending her first year of community college. 

Tiffany Ruan grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and is currently an undergraduate student at Northeastern University. First featured as a student artist in the CUE Teen Collective exhibition in 2022, she went on to participate in Open Stage Project, a program that aims to close the gender gap in behind-the-scenes careers in film, TV, and theater. With a concentration in costume design, she has connected with backstage professionals in Broadway shows such as Some Like it Hot and The Lion King. Ruan is completing her undergraduate degree, and also mentors young artists as an art teacher.

Finlay Williams is a New York City-based painter currently attending LaGuardia High School. As a Scholastic Art and Writing Competition gold medal recipient, his work has been presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and he also exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art following his participation in the Whitney Youth Insights Program. Three of his works were included in the final exhibition of the CUE Teen Collective earlier this year. Most recently, his work was shown in a group exhibition at Little Egg Gallery in Toronto. Williams’ work explores diverse themes of personal experiences, the human condition, and modern anxieties. He plans to enter the professional art world after graduating from university with a major in art history.