About Jay Ressler

Jay Ressler is an award-winning Pennsylvania fine art photographer, oil painter, and encaustic artist best known for his surreal creations. He is president of the Berks Art Alliance and a regular exhibitor and board member at Art Plus Gallery in West Reading, PA.  He has also shown his work at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts; Art Association of Harrisburg; Clay on Main, Oley PA; Lancaster County Art Association; Fallingwater; Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; Art Institute of Pittsburgh and many others around Pennsylvania.

In addition to Art Plus Gallery he is a regular at Studio B, in Boyertown, and the Arts & Crafts Gallery of Hamburg, PA. In addition to his role in the Berks Art Alliance, Ressler is working to promote appreciation of the visual arts in the region as a juried member of the Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen.

A native of Berks County, Pennsylvania, Ressler graduated from Albright College with a degree in psychology. Upon retirement as an industrial worker in 2014 he returned to eastern Pennsylvania. After many experiences around the country, he and his wife, Martha, who is a fiber and found-object artist, had previously settled in Pittsburgh, where he worked as an underground coal miner and later as a machinist in a foundry. While in Pittsburgh he exhibited widely and was active with the Pittsburgh Society of Artists and Associated Artists of Pittsburgh.

His award-winning work includes:

 

  • A moody black and white landscape “From When She Was So Young” was awarded First Place in Photography in the 84th International Exhibit of the Art Association of Harrisburg. Juror: Robert Cozzolino, Senior Curator & Curator of Modern Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.
  • “The House that Jack Built,” Merit Award. Juror: Linda Benedict-Jones, Curatorial Chair, Exhibitions & Curator of Photography, Carnegie Museum of Art at 40th Hoyt Regional Juried Art Exhibition, Hoyt Center for the Arts, New Castle, PA
  • “Steady as She Flows,” First Prize in Photography, Juror: N. Lee Stevens, Retired Senior Curator, Art Collections, The State of Pennsylvania. Exhibition: 85th International Exhibit of the Art Association of Harrisburg
  • “Pillow Talk,” Joan Swanson Macey Award, Juror: William DeBernardi, Carlow University. Annual Exhibition, Pittsburgh Society of Artists, Father Ryan Center for the Arts, McKees Rocks, PA
  • “Padlocked, No Sanctuary,” Juror’s Award, Juror: Patricia Bellan-Gillen, Professor of Art, Carnegie Mellon University. Sanctuary Exhibit, Panza Gallery, Pittsburgh
  • “The Love Bugs,” Art of the State, State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, 2016
  • Other more recent award-winning pieces include “The Fog of War” (2017), “Purple Rain” (2018), and “Reclamation.” (2019)
  • The Tales Old Houses Tell,” Oil on Canvas. First Prize in Painting. Keystone Juried Art Show 2022.

Email: Jay@JayRessler.com