Bert Menco made his living as a scientist (Northwestern University's Department of Neurobiology and Physiology where he was employed as a Research Associate Professor). However, he has been making art all his life. In addition to drawing and painting, he works in intaglio printmaking, etching, drypointing and mezzotinting. He has exhibited widely and won several awards, among them a Sponsor's Prize at the Third Sapporo International Print Biennale (1996, Japan). His work was included in The Best of Printmaking, An International Collection, Rockport Publishers, Gloucester, MA, 1997. He has had numerous solo shows and his work is represented in more than fifty public and private collections. His art is insofar affected by his, now former, research activities, that the often-tedious discipline needed in research is also used in his art; reaching the final image is like a research goal. His dreamlike images tend to deal with confined spaces containing certain characters that reach out to one another but do not quite succeed in meeting.

SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS

2008 - Artist residency at the Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest IL

2001 - Curator’s Choice Artist “Around the Coyote” Fall Arts Festival, Chicago, IL

1996 - Sponsors' Prize, 3rd Sapporo International Print Biennale, Sapporo, Japan

1995 - Award of Excellence, 12th North Shore Art League Midwest Print Show, Chicago, IL

SELECTED ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2009 - Avram Eisen Gallery, Chicago, IL

2009 - “Talking Art With....”, Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, IL, lecture and display

2003/04 - Niendieker Galerie, Arnhem, The Netherlands

2002 - “Images from Beyond”, Libreria San Pantalon, Venice, Italy

2001 - “Poetic Narrative Prints”, Red & Gold Gallery, Seattle, WA

1974 - Library Warwick University, Coventry, UK

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1998-2010 - American Print Alliance, 5 traveling group shows, over 50 venues

2009 - Galerie Kunstkring Woerden /“Atelierroute Groot Woerden”, Studio Ilja Pronk, Kamerik, The Netherlands

2008 - “Nuances of Printmaking”, Koehnline Museum of Art, Des Plaines, IL

2008 - 7th Lessedra World Art Print Annual-Mini Print, Lessedra Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2007 - “Daydreams & Night Dreams” (with Karena Karras), Wright Gallery College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL

2005 - “Rotterdam Geraakt”, Rotterdams Historisch Museum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2003 - “5th Anniversary Exhibition”, Hyundai Arts Centre Gallery, Ulsan, South Korea

2001 - “Portraits of the Soul” (with Nancy Plotkin), Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL

1996/2000 - 3rd & 5th Sapporo International Print Biennales, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan

1996 - “Chicago Prints and Printmakers”, The Art Center, Highland Park, IL

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

2006 - Bert Menco, Bernd Lindemann: “Visions and Voices”, invoco-verlag, Homburg, Germany

2003 - In: Jun-Je Jo, Yu Jae-gil: “Seven Prints Artists from Around the World”, Hyundai Arts Center, Ulsan, Korea

2000 - In: Ivy Sundell, “Art Scene, Chicago 2000”, Crow Woods Publishing, Evanston, IL

1997 - In: Lynne Allen, Phyllis McGibson, Ruth Weisberg: “The Best of Printmaking”, Rockport Publ., Gloucester, MA

Articles:

Italy: Venezia News; Japan: Hokkaido Newspaper; South Korea: Art in Culture; The Netherlands: Arnhemse Courant, De Gelderlander; UK: Coventry Evening Telegraph; USA: Chicago Reader, Chicago Tribune, Evanston Review

SELECTED PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan; Hyundai Arts Centre Gallery, Ulsan, South Korea; Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan; Hyundai Arts Centre Gallery, Ulsan, South Korea; Internationaal Exlibriscentrum, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium ; Joan Flasch Artist’s Book Collection of the Flaxman Library of the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL; Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL; Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL; Robert T. Wright Community Gallery of Art, College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL; Rotterdam Historical Museum, The Netherlands