Mel Alexenberg

Mel Alexenberg

Mel (Menahem) Alexenberg is an artist and art educator best known for his explorations of the intersections between art, science, technology and culture through his artworks, teaching, writing and blogging.

He was born and educated in New York City, where he earned degrees in biology from Queens College and in education from Yeshiva University, and an interdisciplinary doctorate in art, science, and psychology from New York University. He lives in Ra'anana, Israel, with his wife, artist Miriam Benjamin.

Alexenberg’s artworks are in the collections of more than forty museums worldwide including Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York, High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Baltimore Museum of Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Portland Museum of Art in Oregon, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, Museum der Moderne Kunst in Vienna, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Haags Gemeentemuseum in the Netherlands, Jewish Museum in Prague, Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and Malmo Museum in Sweden.

As an educator in the US, Alexenberg served as professor of art and education at Columbia University, head of the art department at Pratt Institute, research fellow at MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and dean of visual arts at New World School of the Arts in Miami. In Israel, he has taught at Tel Aviv University, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, University of Haifa, Bar-Ilan University, and Ariel University. He is Head of the School of the Arts at Emuna College in Jerusalem. Since 2002, Alexenberg has served as a member of the Council of the Wolf Foundation that awards the international Wolf Prizes in the sciences and arts. He was appointed to the Council by the President of Israel upon the recommendation of the Minister of Education.