Artist’s Biography
Scheckler comes from a family of Wisconsin German-Americans, including doctors, musicians, vaudeville stage managers and artists. He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, next to a zoo (for animals) and a university (a zoo for people). He also lived in Utah, New York City, and Bayfield, Wisconsin, plus Duluth, Minnesota, and Innsbruck, Austria. He began college in mechanical engineering, but ended up earning a B.A. in German and Art from the University of Notre Dame, a B.F.A. in Painting from Washington University in St. Louis, and the M.F.A. in Art from Utah State University. He studied traditional figure drawing and anatomy at the New York Academy of Art, and oil painting recently in workshops at the Angel Art Academy in Florence, Italy.
His artwork has been shown professionally since the early 1990s in over forty exhibits. As Associate Professor of Visual Art at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), Scheckler teaches art courses that integrate the observation and interpretation of nature and science with fine art, and a good bit of humor. He's wacky enough to perform this artwork for his students every once in a while. He's also a member of the College Art Association, Massachusetts Teachers Association the National Education Association, The Skeptics Society, Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and Leonardo: the International Society for Arts, Science and Technology
Besides his deep love for the amazing innovations of painting and drawing, Scheckler loves science, science fiction, rock-n-roll, and cats. He thinks Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke are amazing, that Led Zeppelin is the greatest band of all time, and that prowling housecats are better than barking dogs. He reads voraciously, usually science-related nonfiction. Recent titles include “Unweaving the Rainbow” (Richard Dawkins) and “Endless Forms Most Beautiful: the New Science of Evolutionary Development” (Sean Carroll) and “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea” (Daniel Dennett).
Scheckler is a well-liked and accomplished college teacher. He started teaching college-level art in 1993, and later worked for a private art gallery, and then began teaching again in 2000. He brings this teaching and business experience to all of his courses today. Comments from anonymous student evaluations of Scheckler's art courses:
"He teaches ideas and how to think and solve problems… he helped me go from just copying art to making my own art."
"Greg is a man committed to art, and has a vast knowledge of it that goes far beyond the requirements of just being a teacher; there is a stroke of genius in him."
"The instructor takes a legitimate interest in each individual student and helps as much as he can. He is extremely knowledgeable about art, technique and symbolism."
"One-on-one critique and conversation was invaluable - Greg is excellent at positive, constructive comments so one doesn't feel 'ripped apart' by brash comments."
"One of the best teachers that I've had. He really helped me take my art to the next level. Because of this class I have made major progress in my artwork."
Read about MCLA Alumnus Caleb Jones' successes on the MCLA Blog; Caleb took many courses from Prof. Scheckler in visual art, earning the English Major focused on Photojournalism.
Contact Information: Please write, no phone calls. Postal Address: 77 Yale St./North Adams, MA 01247 Email: Students: use Firstclass, others: gregscheckler@adelphia.net Myspace site