HOWARD BERELSON

Howard received his Bachelor of Industrial Design from Pratt Institute in 1962.

During his student years he apprenticed under Theodore Roszak, American sculptor, as a welder and fabricator of steel sculpture. In 1968 he became an illustrator of children's books, trade & text. Howard is in the permanent collection of Children's Literature, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amhurst, MA,. and in the permanent collection of the Bergen Museum, and numerous private collections

One person and selected group exhibitions have included: Lippman Gallery at Short hills NJ;  Pine Gallery, at Fair Lawn Library, NJ;  Watchung Arts Center, Watchung NJ,   Wiseman Galleries, Grants Pass, OR, The Studio Space on Madison, Dumont NJ,  Clifton Art Center, NJ: Hob’art Gallery, Hoboken; Pro Arts, Jersey City,NJ;  Six Summit Gallery, Ivoryton, CTThe Bergen Museum, NJ; The Piermont Flywheel Gallery, Piermont NY; Hobart, Hoboken NJ;  George Segal Gallery, Montclair NJ; Jewel Spiegel Gallery, Englewood NJ; Belskie Museum, Closter NJ; Cooperstown Art Center, Cooperstown, NY; Foundry Art Center, ST. Charles, MO; South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA; Monmouth University, Monmouth NJ; Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ;  Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters; Fairleigh Dickinson University; Ben Shahn Gallery, William Paterson University; Passaic Community College, Paterson, NJ;  RH Love Gallery, Chicago, Ill; Gallery Renee Denise, Chicago Ill.

Howard was represented byMobile Digital Art & More,  a Gallery for the 21st Century,  Boonton, NJ, until it's closing.

Howard is a permanent roster teaching artist for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Winning a teaching fellowship in the Art in Education Program, Howard taught for over 26 years, integrating curriculum with various art forms as different pathways to learning. He found that when he started to write, the discipline he achieved and his sensitivity to the written word enhanced his visual work as it evolved. He considers the poet -as-observer and visual- artist-as-observer are one and the same. He has been awarded first prize in the 2017- 18 Allen Ginsberg poetry Awards and Honorable Mention in the 2020, 2019, 2018, 2015, and 2013 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards.  His writing publications include:  The Paterson Literary Review; The Great Falls, An Anthology of Poems about Paterson, New Jersey' Lips, and Jane's Boy Press.

The transition from children’s book illustrator- to print maker (mono prints)- to artist in residence- to digital print maker spanned over forty years. Howard left the field of children’s book illustration to find his direction. In 1989 he studied under the guidance of master print maker Roberto De Lamonica and discovered his voice. The Dog Series and Persona Series, reflected that voice.

Teaching children of all ages gave Howard a way in which to reconnect with childhood discovery. He says:  I have learned greatly from children’s innocence, their unfiltered, talented, inquisitive young minds that so willingly entered into their own world of imagination with unabashed joy and exuberance.

The Garden Series and Landscape Series (Sky Garden, August’s Garden of Joy, Alien Beauty, and others, reflect that discovery.  Death in the Garden of Eden, Oldupai Gorge, Serengeti Plain, Tanzania; was inspired by atrip to Kenya and Tanzania.  Fall from Paradise # 2, marks a return to narrative imagery with echos of Children's Book illustration, while new imagery: Carousel, Untitled, Howard's Kitchen, Burning Tree, Vietnam Series, Hallowed Ground,  and recent imagery: The Killing, The Man Who Climbed out of a Hole, The Stars That Disappeared, Mostar, Mostar #2 Anguished Woman,  Anguished Woman on a field of Words, albeit dark, have been informed by his poems.

 Howard continues his present direction of written and illustrated works - a book of illustrated poem and Kate's Dream, a story of a child's nightmare and its'  resolution, The Mendham Poems, a limited edition of poems and images.

 

e-mail Howard Berelson:   artneduc@aol.com