NJ Fine Art Academy President Co-President, American Artist League (among five presidents) Rutgers University Art Consultant New England Regional Art Museum Consultant

A graduate from the Xian Academy of Fine Arts in oil painting (MFA), Yong Zhou is a professional oil painter and educator. Currently he is a professor at New Jersey Fine Arts School which he founded and Xinjiang Art Institute.

As a United Nations "outstanding intellectual", Zhou won the prestigious United Nations Green Future Awareness award. He toured the states and then in 1995 immigrated to the United States to chase his American Dream.

As an educator of fine arts, Zhou has been awarded for regional and national prize for the Scholastic Drawing and Writing Award several times. Zhou founded a leading New Jersey based fine art institution, over the last two decades, thousands of his NJ Fine Arts Academy graduates have been winning hundreds of regional and national awards (including the prestigious American Congress Art Competition Award for the past seven consecutive years) Celebrating Art Competition Awards.

His students have been admitted to numerous leading US and international institutions (including RISD - Rhode Island School of Design, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, Pace University, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Mary land Institute College of Art, School of the Art Institute Chicago, Stanford, MIT, New York University, University of Chicago). Zhou's paintings have been widely exhibited worldwide, including in the United Nations (NYC Headquarters), and cities such as Newark, New York, New Brunswick, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Hong Kong, Beijing, Xinjiang, China, and Taipei.

His series include the American West Series, the Chinese West Series (including a 20 meter long mural of Karamay's people), and other important works. His style became bold, spacious, ambitious and free, his colors more exaggerated and vibrant, and when gazed upon, touches the inner strength and deep joy of humanity. Currently, he is working on series of works related Chinese historic anti-Japanese War and works pertaining early Chinese immigrants and their contribution to the American railroads.

Since 2010, with the support from China National Academy of Painting (CNAP), Zhou bridged the relationship between Eastern and Western artists and institutions, initiated the May China platform and the American Artist League (members including Rhode Island School of Design, Princeton, New York Academy of Arts, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Pace University, The Ground for Sculptures, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art, School of the Art Institute Chicago) cross-national cultural exchanges, under this umbrella, the artists have held consecutively seven years of art exhibitions, academic seminars, publications, resident programs in China and US, and participated the Road and Belt International Art Programs (sponsored by the China National Ministry of Culture, organized by China National Academy of Painting).

周勇，中国西安美术学院油画硕士，现任美国新泽西美术学院教授。(创始人)美国罗格斯大学亚洲文化中心艺术顾问，美国康州新英格兰博物馆中国部副主任。美国美术家协会主席。1993年，油画丝绸之路主画荣获联合国颁发的“世界环境艺术大赛优秀奖”，特邀前往美国纽约旧金山芝加哥举办个人画展。自2012开始连续10年带领美国艺术家与中国国家画院共同筹办五月中国，五月中美国际艺术节，为中国艺术家在美国联合国，西温莎文化体育中心举办展览在纽泽西州立博物馆举办展览。连续三年带领美国艺术家包括耶鲁大学艺术院，普林诗顿大学艺术院，罗得岛设计学院，哥伦比亚大学，华盛顿大学，普渡大学，纽约艺术学院，芝加哥美术学院，马里兰艺术学院，布朗大学，和美国国家艺术设计院，纽西里雕塑公园等大学艺术院，在中国国家画院举办展览、讲座，为中美文化的发展做贡献，2018年6月荣获2018年度50亚杰出人才大奖。