CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA (June 20, 2025) — S Torriano Berry, is hosting a retrospective exhibit featuring his work as an independent filmmaker and art by his mother, Jean Berry, at CSPS Hall, 1103 3rd St SE, Cedar Rapids. Proceeds from a silent auction of Jean Berry’s works at 5:30PM, Friday, June 27, will benefit the African American Museum of Iowa and the Toni Berry Memorial Scholarship fund at the University of Iowa.
S Torriano Berry is an award-winning independent filmmaker who has created and executive-produced the anthology series Black Independent Showcase, and Black Visions/Silver Screen: Howard University Student Film Showcase for WHUT-TV 32, in Washington DC. His two, half-hour made-for-television movies The Light and When It’s Your Turn were produced through the Minority Advisory Board of WPVI-TV 6, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His documentary Racialism and the Media, 2024, explores the research developed by his sister, Dr Venise Berry, in her scholarly publication of the same title. Berry is Professor Emeritus at Howard University’s Department of Media, Journalism, and Film. He received his BA in Art/Photography from Arizona State University and earned his MFA in Motion Picture Production from the University of California, Los Angeles. He lives in Coralville, Iowa.
Jeanette (Jean) Berry, artist, was born August 22, 1938, in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She began studying art as a teenager and took instruction in art at the Kansas City Art Institute. The death of her youngest child, Toni, was a watershed for Berry, after which she threw [herself] into [her] art to fill the void. In spring 1987, she enrolled as a student of art at Drake University in Des Moines. There she completed a BFA in May 1989.
Berry’s work was exhibited regionally and nationally after she received her degree and was included in a Smithsonian Institution exhibition. A career highlight was her 1998 exhibit at Rand Afrikaans University’s Gencor Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa. Other notable exhibits include Philadelphia’s October Gallery, The Waterloo Museum of Art, and The Sumner School Gallery in Washington DC. Her work is currently being represented by Hudson River Gallery in Iowa City, and can be seen in numerous permanent and personal collections around the world.
The retrospective and silent auction are free and open to the public. For questions and comments, please contact S Torriano Berry directly at torrianob1958@icloud.com.
