"Portrait of Russian Immigrants in Brooklyn Based on their 1913 Wedding Portrait" Collage

My first painting was completed when I was 14 years old. I studied art in high school and went on to major in fine arts at Hofstra University where I took painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and art history courses. I did a semester of graduate work as an non-matriculated student in art history at Temple University followed by a year of graduate work in art therapy at Hahnemann Medical College. I had a one-person show at the National Arts Club in Manhattan when I was 28 years old, which was written up in the DAILY NEWS. I continued to do my art work but put more of my energy into working in the publishing industry and getting advanced degrees in criminal justice (Goddard College Graduate Program) and a Ph.D. in sociology (The City University of New York Graduate Center). I've been teaching college since I'm in my mid-twenties, first at the New School for Social Research and, most recently, in the Department of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. I'm the author of more than 60 books published by such major houses as Simon & Schuster (WHEN FRIENDSHIP HURTS), Penguin Random House (THE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO SOCIAL SECURITY), Facts on File (CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY), Scribner's (VICTIMS, first edition); and others. I also founded my own small press, Hannacroix Creek Books, Inc. (http://www.hannacroixcreekbooks.com) in 1996. Several of my paintings, collages, or photographs have been used for the covers or interior art of my publishing company's books or journals including BIRTHDAY TRACKER & JOURNAL; UNTIMELY DEATH; JUST YOUR EVERYDAY PEOPLE; FRIENDSHIP THOUGHTS, FAMOUS QUOTES, AND A JOURNAL; LOVE AND WORK: POEMS; FRIENDSHIFTS: THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP AND HOW IT SHAPES OUR LIVES; and more. I interviewed several notable artists for an article that I wrote entitled, "Who's Who in East Hampton: Artists." Some of the artists that I interviewed and that were included in the article were de Kooning, Lee Krasner, and Fairfield Porter.