Herbert Simon has created familiar local sculptures

Herbert Simon was taught by artistic masters, brought these lessons to the generations that followed him, and crafted some of the most recognizable sculptures within Luzerne County’s borders. The next time you walk through the Wilkes University campus or through Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park – formerly the Coal Street Park – take a look at the art on display. You’ll get a sense of Herbert Simon’s brilliance.

Simon was born in Nashville in 1927. A scholar through and through, Simon’s educational background is extensive. He attended New York University, Colorado College and Vanderbilt University, as well as the Brooklyn Museum Art School, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Clearly, he got quite the education, as he did when he learned from legendary, abstract artists like Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell, and Philip Guston.

Simon himself took these lessons and spread them to additional artists as a professor at the School of Design at North Carolina State College, now the College of Design at NC State. He also spent time living and working in New York City, where the concrete landscape and metropolitan lifestyle greatly influenced his sculptures.

In 1969, Simon moved to Wilkes-Barre and began teaching at Wilkes University, where he taught for 23 years. Throughout his tenure at Wilkes, Simon continued to sculpt, with some of his most notable pieces to the eyes of Luzerne County residents being produced during his time at the school.

His piece “Facets,” an aluminum sculpture crafted in 1977, is a striking work that is fastened to the Stark Learning Center on Wilkes’ campus. Likewise, “Two Modules,” which sits at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park on Coal Street in Wilkes-Barre, is a fascinating steel structure. These pieces are among Simon’s most recognizable works to the average Luzerne County resident who has worked or played in the area.

As the 1980s wore on, Simon began reimagining his style. On one hand, the raw landscape of Luzerne County began to influence his artwork. At the same time, he began focusing on objects rather than abstractions, a philosophical reversal from his earlier work. In an additional creative development, Simon has incorporated more bronze into his repertoire since the 1990s. To properly capture the potential of bronze, Simon has constructed his pieces in wax as an early step in establishing the vision. The results have been intricate sculptures such as 1994’s “Warped Midtown” and 1996’s “Film Noir.”

Despite these changes in style, Simon has continued to contribute to the Luzerne County community through pieces like “Aloft,” which stands at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. Simon, through this work and others, has a knack for bringing timeless, priceless pieces of art to a wide audience, incorporating a sense of sophistication to places of recreation and transportation.

Despite Simon’s appeal to the masses, his sculptures and etchings have also appeared in bastions of high art throughout the Northeast, including New York City and Binghamton. In Pennsylvania, Simon’s works can be found in a number of capacities in communities such as Mountain Top, Scranton, Reading, and the Lehigh Valley.

Herbert Simon’s ability to adapt has made him an important artist in Luzerne County since he first joined the local arts community in the late 1960s. Always influenced by his surroundings and the different forms of sculpture, the freshness of Simon’s work have made for an eye-catching and ever-present catalog.