In the Adler Gallery
Jane Breskin Zalben
Beni’s Tiny Tales: Illustrations and Paintings
On view November 2 through December 28
Join the artist for a reception on Sunday, November 19 from 1 – 3 p.m.
Jane Breskin Zalben was born in New York City. Her first art lessons began age five at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She attended the High School of Music & Art, received a B.A. degree in art from Queens College, and went on to study lithography at the Pratt Graphics Center while working in publishing. She began her career as a graphic designer, working for several major publishers, including Scribner’s, where she became the art director of children’s books. As an author/artist/designer Ms. Zalben has created over 50 award-winning books for children, including eight young adult novels, two cookbooks, and several poetry books. Her acclaimed picture books and novels explore issues of family, friendship, self-reliance, inner strength, peace, and the creative process of music and art. Her book, “Mousterpiece: a guide to modern art” was on the “Calling Caldecott” list of the 20 best-illustrated books of the year, where the starred Kirkus review said, “The joyful clarity of both vision and execution thrills.” Her book, “A Moon for Moe & Mo” won her 4th silver medal Sydney Taylor Book at the ALA. “Beni’s Tiny Tales” is her latest children’s book. (not just for children!)
Ms. Zalben has had solo/group exhibitions at galleries and museums throughout the United States – the Met, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the Heckscher Museum, the Museum of Tolerance, the Justin Schiller Gallery along with Maurice Sendak, Montauk and Bryant Library Gallery, to name a few. She taught at the School of Visual Arts for eighteen years. She has been honored with numerous writer/artist-in-residences, doing workshops, moderating, and participating in professional panels, with lectures at Vassar, Hofstra, Rice, Mazza Museum at Findlay University. She has been the keynote Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, The Brooklyn Library / Grand Army Plaza, and Main NYC Public Library, The Met, The Barnes Foundation, Crystal Bridges museum, and included in the Long Island Biennial at the Heckscher Museum. Most recently, she organized a panel at The Eric Carle Museum. She sells her work at R. Michelson Galleries and Swann Galleries as well privately from her studio.
Some of the artists she studied art with in college were Herb Aach, Marvin Bileck, (Caldecott Silver) and Richard Serra, (sculptor). Currently working as an abstract painter, her work, which has been called, “emotional and evocative” incorporating a broad range of mediums including acrylics, oils, pastel crayons, dyes, spray paint, household cleaners, gauze, metal wire, all resulting in an ethereal play on texture, light, color, and movement. Her studio is on Long Island, and also in Long Island City, New York, where she splits her time.