About Jay Ressler – Jay Ressler • Artist

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:

Rusted Hulk of a ship in the by near La Boca, Cuba. Composite Photo overlaid with fossilized coral and succulents growing out of cracks in the coral beach.

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