Moe Brooker has been an artist and teacher for over thirty-seven years. He has taught throughout the United States and abroad. After receiving the Master of Fine Arts degree from the Tyler School of Fine Arts, Temple University in 1972, he joined the faculty at Tyler and taught for one year. In 1974, Mr. Brooker was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville and the following year began teaching at the University of North Carolina as an Associate Professor. From 1976 to 1985 Mr. Brooker taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art as an Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing. Returning to Philadelphia in 1985, Moe began teaching at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the first school he attended for art training. While teaching at the Academy, Mr. Brooker was invited to teach at the Tiajin College of Fine Arts, in the city of Tianjin, The Peoples Republic of China for the fall semester of 1987. He became a fully appointed faculty member at the Academy in 1988. Professor Brooker taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1985 to 1991. In 1991 he was offered and accepted the Chair of the Foundation Department at the Parson School of Design in New York City. His mission as chair was to re-write the curriculum and re-organize the department. In 1994 having completed the task, Mr. Brooker resigned as chair and returned to Philadelphia and fully committed himself to his studio work. In 1995, the then president of Moore College of Art & Design, Barbara Price, invited Mr. Brooker to teach at the Moore College of Art and Design. Moe is presently Professor and Chair of the Foundation Department at Moore.
Professor Brooker has an extensive exhibition record of both solo and group exhibition. Moe has had 30 one-person exhibitions. Moe's first New York exhibition was at the Ruth Siegel Gallery, New York City, in 1980. He is a regular member and exhibitor of the June Kelly Galley, in New York, The Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia and the Robert Roman Gallery in Scottsdale AZ. The list of his groups exhibitions is extensive and includes Layers of Meaning, Pennsylvania Academy of The Fine Arts, An Exuberant Bounty, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, 25 years, The Cleveland Center for Contempary Art, A Different Point of View, The Noyes Museum of Art, When the Spirit Moves, The Anacosta Museum, Smithsonian
Professor Brooker is the recipient of several honors and awards. They include the 2009 David L Temple Sr. and Helen J. Temple Visiting Scholar, Lafayette College, Easton, PA, The Philadelphia Art Alliance's Medal of Achievement. Also two invitation to Oxford University, Oxford, England in 2008 and in 2006 to discuss the relationship between art and science. The 2004 Conrad Nelson Fellowship, the 2003 Van Der Zee Award. In 1993 Mr. Brooker was commissioned by the Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to do a 6-color lithograph. Absolut Vodka commissioned Moe to do an Absolut Brooker in 1992. A City of Philadelphia Sister City Travel Grant to the city of Tianjin, The Peoples Republic of China. In 1987 Mr. Brooker received Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Fellowship for painting. Professor Brooker has been listed in the Who's Who in American Art since 1999.
Many public collections include Brooker's work in their holdings, including The Philadadelphia Museum of Art; The Cleveland Museum of Art; Muse' des beaux arts du Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City; The Woodmere Museum; The LaSalle University Museum, Philadelphia; The Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; The Federal Reserve Bank, Philadelphia; The Montgomery Museum Of Art, The Ford Motor Company, Detroit, MI
A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Brooker received both his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Masters of Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Fine Arts, Temple University. He received a Certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Moe resides in Philadelphia with his wife, Cheryl McClenney-Brooker, Director of External Affairs, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Their Daughter, Misha, is a senior at Spelman College, Atlanta and will graduate May 2009; their son Musa is a 2008 graduate with a MFA in Animation from Cal Arts in California.
2008
Education
MFA Painting: Tyler School of Fine Arts 1972
BFA Painting: Tyler School of Fine Arts, 1970
Certificate Painting: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1963
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2009: Grossman Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, PA
2008: Delaware Center for the Creative Arts, Wilmington
2007: Robert Roman Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2006: June Kelly Gallery, NYC
2005: Robert Roman Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2004: The Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2001: June Kelly Gallery, NYC
1998: The Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1996: June Kelly Gallery, NYC
1994: The Malcolm Brown Gallery, Cleveland, OH
1992: Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI
1990: June Kelly Gallery, NYC
1985: DBR Gallery, Cleveland, HO
1984: Akron Museum, Akron, HO
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2009: Each in their Own Voice, Cleveland State University Gallery, OH
Tradition Redefined, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
The Paul Jones Collection of American Art, University of Alabama
2008: In Search of Missing Masters, Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2007: Celebration, Winston-Salem Delta Fine Arts Center, NC
2006: Silent Voices, Loud Echoes, African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2005: A Different Way of Seeing, Noyes Museum of Art, OceanVille, New Jersey
The Chemistry of Color, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Illuminations, Towson University, Union Gallery, Towson, MD
2004: A Celebration of Color, The Banana Factory, Bethlehem, PA
2003: Junction Specific, Tubman Museum, Macon, GA
2001: When The Spirit Moves, Anacosta Museum, Smithsonian, Washington, DC
2000: An Exuberant Bounty, The Philadelphia Museum of Art
1996: Celebrating Visual Tradations lll, The Allentown Art Museum, PA
1989: Cultural Perspectives, Gregorio Y Matos Center for the Arts, Bahia, Brazil
53rd Annual Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
1979: The May Show, Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Selected Professional Experience:
1995-present: Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA - Professor, Foundation Dept, Chair
1991-1993: Parons School of Design, New York, NY - Foundation Dept, Chair
1985-1991: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA - Professor
1987: Tianjin College of Fine Art, Tianjin, China - Guest Lecturer
1976-1985: Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH - Associate Professor
1974-1975: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - Associate Professor
1973-1974: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA - Assistant Professor
Selected Honors & Awards:
2009: Medal of Merit, Philadelphia Art Alliance
2008 : Invited to present a paper at Oxford Univerity, Harris Manchester College, UK
2006: Invited to present a paper at Oxford University, Jesus College, UK
The Bermuda National Gallery Biennial Exhibition, England, Juror
2004: Conrad Fellowship, University of Millersville, Millersville, PA
2003: James Van Der Zee Award, Honoree, Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, PA
2000: Who's Who in American Art, Biographee form 2000 - Present
1992: Absolut Vodka, Commission, "Absolut Brooker" advertisement
1989: Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Recipient - fellowship for painting
Selected Bibliography:
2009: Each in Their Own Voice, catalogue, Ill. p14 & 15
2008: In Search of Missing Masters, catalogue, Woodmere Museum, Illp76
2006: "Moe Brooker, Visual Artist" Artist & Influence, Vol XXIV Hatch-Billops, p. 1 -8,
2003: "And the winner was…" Melissa Debben, Philadelphia, Inquirer, Ill.p1, Mi-2
1997: Seeing Jazz, Artists and Writers on Jazz, The Smithsonian, Illp 76
1994: Delighting the Eye, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Arts, Steven Lill, p. L1, L3, Illp.L1
1993: Twenty-Fine Years, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Ellen Landau, p54,
Selected Public Collections:
The Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
The American Museum of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
African-American Museum, Philadelphia, PA
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PLA
Ohio Arts Foundation, Cleveland
Cleveland Public Library, OH
Hampton University Museum, Hampton, VV
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
La Salle University Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Absolut Vodka, Carillion Importers, Teaneck, NJ
Source: askart.com / Information provided by the artist.
