Frank C. Eckmair
Birth Date: 1930
Death Date: February 2012
Artist Gallery
Frank Eckmair was born in Norwich, New York in 1930 and grew up in Gilbertsville, New York. He was the son of Frank and Gladys (Cornwall) Eckmair. He spent his early years drawing and working at his parents' hotel. He attended art school in New Haven, and earned a BFA at the State University of Iowa. After teaching public school in Otsego County, he served in the United States Air Force in Korea, Japan and the northwestern United States. Returning from military service, Mr. Eckmair studied at Ohio University where he received his MFA in printmaking. During his time at Ohio University, he met and married Leigh Chadwick. Originally a painter he developed his passion for printmaking and ceramics while at Ohio U. In 1963, the couple moved to Buffalo, where Eckmair became a professor at Buffalo State College in New York. In Buffalo, he was instrumental in establishing Buffalo Prints and Paper. He assisted many other colleges in establishing their own handmade paper mills, widely lecturing and demonstrating the techniques. He was called upon by the Organization of American States to organize a paper mill in Costa Rica, where he also taught the theories and skills to professional artists from 14 member nations. His distinctive regionalist woodcuts became widely known through his affiliation with Associated American Artists of New York. Eckmair was showcased in a yearlong retrospective at the New York State Museum, "The Landscape of Memory." Eckmair retired from teaching in 1995 and focused his time on his own work, continuing to draw, carve, print, and exhibit. He became the art director for Birch Brook Press in Delhi, and was responsible for wood engraving illustrations of many books and publications. At the time of his death in 2012, he was working on several major projects, when he wasn't feeding the squirrels or the neighborhood dogs. He could always be counted on to help out with art work or design projects for school or community organizations.