1956-1958

One-man show at Tree Arts Gallery, Poughkeepsie, New York; Mural commissioned and executed by the Young Men and Women’s Hebrew Association, Montreal, Canada; Tragedy strikes when Byron’s wife, Helen, is killed by a car while crossing the street with eight year old Jon. Byron and his children return to San Francisco, moving to Water St., which inspires a series of mixed media paintings.

1959-1968

1969-1970

Marries print-maker and muralist Emmy Lou Packard, setting up a guesthouse and art gallery in Mendocino, California; Byron and Emmy Lou become founding members of Northern California’s chapter of the Peace and Freedom Party, organizing against the Vietnam War; As political and environmental activists, Byron and Emmy Lou are credited playing a prominent role in the campaign to protect the Mendocino coastline from commercial exploitation; Byron’s only grandchild is born - Laura - 1963; Byron completes series of oils on Mexican themes, carved and printed a series of lino and wood blocks; Exhibition at Salem Art Museum-Bush House of work between 1957 and 1960; Solo art show at Ampex Gallery, Palo Alto, CA.

Byron retreats to Hawaii to work on watercolor series; Byron and Emmy Lou divorce upon his return.

1954

Flees to Canada with family due to anti-communist hysteria prevelant in the United States at that time. Lives in Toronto and Montreal; As a card carrying member of the Communist Party for seventeen years, Byron captured the attention of the FBI, which began an extensive dossier on Byron’s political views.

1962

1964

“Emmy Lou and I decided today to do a series of prints on the theme of peace. We will use skeletons as the central element, those being eminently suitable to the present human condition… we want to contribute. Must write a letter to President Kennedy urging not to resume nuclear tests. This would continue the spiral that must certainly at some point result in Doomsday for a great part of humanity.”

Show of 30 prints in Moscow. The opening airs on Soviet Television.