In 1966, Ed Bronstein returned to Philadelphia after graduating Princeton University to study architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, with the objective of opening his own architectural practice. He opened his office in 1974, and within eight years, his restaurant designs graced the covers of five national design journals, "Pennsylvania Architect", the state's journal, and the book "Dining by Design". In 1983, he was recognized with the "Gold Key Award", the highest design award of the American Hotel and Motel Association. His design for AIA Philadelphia, the local chapter's headquarters, appeared in "Architecture" magazine's 1994 Annual Review of American Architecture.

In 1989, after watching his daughter's art education, he began evening and weekend courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. From then until now, he has continued his "formal" art training there, and at Fleisher Art Memorial, taking several courses every year. While continuing to teach as an Adjunct Professor at Drexel University since 1983, he closed his successful practice of architecture in 2001, in order to pursue painting full time. His last commission, the Greene Towne School, was noted in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer as "one of the most artful and inventive new buildings to show up in Center City in the last few years".

He was appointed to the Philadelphia Art Commission by the mayor in 1996, and has been instrumental in organizing the city-wide "Philadelphia Open Studio Tours" event, as well as the Philadelphia's Design Advocacy Group (DAG). He has painted in Ireland, twice painting as a resident at the Cill Rialaig Project in Ballinskelligs. In 2008 he had a solo show at the Urban Retreat Gallery in Dublin, Ireland, showing work he developed during eight visits to Ireland in less than ten years.

His oil and pastel paintings have been shown in Philadelphia, and in galleries in New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware since 1993. He mounted a solo show at the Southern Vermont Art Center in the spring of 2000, and his works were included in the "Art of the State" show at the Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg in 2000, and 2002's Juried Show of the Allentown Art Museum.

An excerpt from a review (Press/Review, January 31, 2001) of his work in a group show at the Rosenfeld Gallery, described his paintings as "robust work, along with an intense sense of kinetic motion. . . . These small pieces boast an expansiveness for their size, thanks to the artist's transmutation of a scene from reality made over into something more than it ever was in real life." In the fall of 2005, American Artist magazine published a six page illustrated article about his work entitled "For the Love of Brush and Paint".

EDUCATION
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 1989-1998
Univ. of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Fine Arts – M Arch., 1968
Princeton University - BA in Architecture, 1966

RESIDENCIES
Cill Rialaig Project – Ballenskelligs, Ireland 2007
Vermont Studio Center – Johnson, VT 2005
Cill Rialaig Project – Ballenskelligs, Ireland 2005
Cill Rialaig Project – Ballenskelligs, Ireland 2001

SOLO SHOWS

2009
Twenty-Two Gallery – Philadelphia, PA

2008
Urban Retreat Gallery – Dublin, Ireland
The Sporting Club at the Bellevue – Philadelphia, PA

2007
Bartram's Garden – Philadelphia, PA

2006
Atlantic Cape Community College Art Gallery – Mays Landing, NJ

2005
Station Gallery - Greenville, DE

2004
JMS Gallery - Philadelphia, PA

2002
Rosenfeld Gallery - Philadelphia, PA
Accent Gallery - Ocean City, NJ
Station Gallery - Greenville, DE

2000
Southern Vermont Art Center - Manchester, VT
Tatiana Gallery - Glenelg, MD

1999
The Cosmopolitan Club of Philadelphia
Blue Streak Gallery - Wilmington, DE
The Rosenfeld Gallery - Philadelphia, PA

1996
ArtFronts (collaboration) installation – Philadelphia, PA

1994
Cafe Einstein – Philadelphia, PA

1993
American Institute of Architects - Philadelphia, PA

MUSEUM (GROUP) SHOWS

2004
Woodmere Art Museum - Philadelphia, PA
Delaware Center of Contemporary Arts (DCCA) - Wilmington, DE

2003 Woodmere Art Museum - Philadelphia, PA

2002
Allentown Art Museum - Allentown, PA

2000
Pennsylvania State Museum - Harrisburg, PA

SELECTED ENTRIES/ART SHOWS

2009
Art by Architects – AIA Phila – Philadelphia, PA
Artists’ House Gallery – Philadelphia, PA
Station Gallery – Greeneville, DE

2007
Art by Architects – AIA Phila – Philadelpia, PA

2006
Art by Architects – AIA Phila – Philadelpia, PA
USArtists: American Fine Art Show - Philadelphia, PA
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Juried Alumni Show – Phila., PA

2003
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Alumni Show – Philadelphia, PA The Station Gallery – Greenville
USArtists: American Fine Art Show - Philadelphia, PA

2001
Rosenfeld Gallery - Philadelphia, PA
The Philadelphia Sketch Club –Philadelphia,PA
The Station Gallery – Greenville, DE

2000
Fox Martin Fine Art Gallery – Housatonic, MA

1999
Abington Art Center – Abington, PA

1998
William Penn Charter School – Philadelphia, PA
Third Street Gallery - Philadelphia, PA
American Institute of Architects – Philadelphia, PA

1997
The Haverford School – Haverford, PA
Doylestown Art League – Doylestown, PA

1996 and before
William Penn Charter School – Philadelphia, PA
The Plastic (Arts) Club of Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Water Color Club – Philadelphia, PA
COLLECTIONS Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Phila., PA Morgan Lewis & Bochius LLP, Philadelphia, PA
The Graham Company, Philadelphia, PA
The Hankin Group, Blue Bell, PA

TEACHING AFFILIATIONS

Adjunct Professor Drexel Univ. - Architecture and Design Arts Dept.
Visiting Juror - Temple University, Drexel University, Moore College of Art, University of the Arts, University of Pennsylvania
Mentor - Moore College of Art

RELATED PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, Philadelphia 2000-2005
Design Advocacy Group, Philadelphia 2001
Philadelphia Art Commission - Mayoral Appointee 1996-2001 Philadelphia Water Color Club 1993-1994
Foundation for Architecture - Board of Trustees 1985-1989
English Speaking Union - Travel/Study Grant Committee 1980-1990 Please Touch Museum - founding member Board of Trustees 1974-77
American Institute of Architects, Member 1980-present

ARCHITECTURE - SELECTED BUILT PROJECTS

AIA Philadelphia - Headquarters, Philadelphia
Frog Commissary Catering, Philadelphia
Running Press Corporate Offices, Philadelphia
LaSalle University Student Union Food Court, Philadelphia
CoreKids Day Care Center at CoreStates Plaza, Philadelphia
Sobel Cafe, San Francisco
Heartthrob Cafe & Philadelphia Bandstand, Philadelphia, St. Paul, Nashville

HONORS AND AWARDS
International Research and Study Grant - awarded by Philadelphia Branch of The English Speaking Union (Ireland) 1999

Design Award Philadelphia Chapter American Institute of Architects - Frog Commissary Catering 1995

Winning Design Pennsbury Visitors Center Design Competition (Bartley Bronstein Long Mirenda, Architects)1988

Design Award Philadelphia Chapter American Institute of Architects - Heartthrob Cafe & Philadelphia Bandstand (Bartley Bronstein Long Mirenda, Architects)1984

Gold Key Award Internat'l Hotel Motel & Restaurant Ass'n 1983

Interior Design Awards Restaurant Hospitality Magazine, Philadelphia Magazine, Restaurants & Institutions Magazine

Lighting Design Award Illuminating Engineering Society of North America for Pierre & Carlo Salon 1981

Young Professional Exchange Program - English Speaking Union 1978