Bio – Bernie Hochman

I am an experimental multi-media artist.

I was born in Clarksville, Arkansas and have been a resident of Brevard County, Florida
since 1981.

I started creating art at the age of 5 while living in Israel from 1950 to 1955.

I joined the USMC in 1967 and did a tour of duty in Viet Nam.  While there, I vowed
that if I survived, I would travel around the world.  In May 1972 I left on this journey
which lasted 9 months but only made it to Israel.
Since I had an International Student ID Card, I was able to gain entry to all museums
free of charge. I became a world traveler and enjoyed experiencing new things, visiting
various countries, learning about the people, different art forms, architecture, geography,
food etc.

I visited many European countries and in Holland, I was particularly impressed after
seeing original Van Gogh’s. I spent hours studying them.
I also traveled throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Mexico and some
of the Caribbean Islands and was inspired by the uniqueness of each culture.

I started exhibiting my art in 1975 in New Jersey where I was living at the time.
My Eagle sculpture was excepted to the National Scuptor Registor but nothing come of it

I have won awards for some of my sculptures, watercolors, oil paintings and mirror
graphics.

From 1981 to 1998, I was privileged to work for the Space Program at Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station and KSC as a Maintenance Electrician and Generator Mechanic/ Searchlight Technician. In that capacity, I was involved in the maintenance of the clean
rooms where the satellites were assembled. As a Searchlight Tech., I maintained and operated the searchlights that light up launches for the Space Shuttle as well as other space related launches.As part of my duties with the generator shop I worked in conjunction with the U.S. Space Shuttle astronauts traveling overseas with the Alternate Space Shuttle Emergency Landing Team to Morocco and Senegal, Africa.

A lot of my art revolved around the space program and I began producing and marketing
Space Shuttle art (watercolors, oil paintings, wood/mirror combinations created by hand.
In 1995 I started using the computer, creating over 3000 different original computer graphic designs, mostly space related.

At this point in time, I am working jointly with quality craftspeople.  They are assisting
me in integrating my designs in a variety of mediums.