Herk Van Tongeren joined the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture, Mercerville, NJ in 1976 and worked there as President/Executive Director until the time of his death in 1987. During the span of his career, Van Tongeren served as faculty and guest lecturer at several universities and institutions throughout North America including Rutgers University in New Jersey, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of British Columbia.Throughout his career, Van Tongeren participated in over fifty solo and group exhibitions. His work is included in the collections of many noted American museums such as the Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY; the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; National Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; Princeton University Art Gallery, Princeton, NJ, to name a few.