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Frank C. Eckmair, (May 21, 1930 - February 12, 2012), artist and printmaker, best known for his haunting works evoking rural life in upstate New York, was born in Norwich, NY and grew up in the small village of Gilbertsville, NY in Otsego County. He was the son of Frank and Gladys (Cornwall) Eckmair and spent his early years drawing and working at his parents' hotel. He attended art school in New Haven, and earned a bachelor of arts degree from the State University of Iowa, where he studied fine arts with Mauricio Lasansky, who is considered the father of 20th century American printmaking.

After teaching public school in Otsego County, Eckmair served in the United States Air Force in Korea, Japan and the northwestern United States. Returning from military service, Eckmair studied at Ohio University where he received a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking. During his time at Ohio University, he met and insisted on marrying Leigh Chadwick. In time they had three children, Antoni Franz, Kelley M., and Stephanie A. and, after a greater span of time, there were eight grandchildren, Julian and Gabriel, Sarah, Thomas, Peter and Annie, and Caitlin and Allison.

In 1963, the couple moved to Buffalo, NY, where Eckmair became a professor at Buffalo State College. There he influenced a generation of artists, many of whom became close friends. In Buffalo, he was instrumental in establishing Buffalo Prints and Paper. He assisted many other colleges in establishing their own hand made 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.

Eckmair's work received its earliest national recognition through Associated American Artists, a program founded to market affordable fine art prints to the American public. Eckmair’s prints of regional landscapes for AAA, inspired by drives on back roads in the Butternut Valley, had great populist appeal.

Considered a master of the woodcut, his work is in collections of many museums around the world, including the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, Whitney Museum of Art, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Art, National Museum of Korea, Butler Institute of American Art, the Museo de Arte Costarricense, Pushkin Museum, Vatican Library, Glenbow Museum, as well as in more than 200 private, college and university collections.

Most recently, Eckmair's work was showcased in a year long retrospective, one man exhibit at the New York State Museum, "The Landscape of Memory."

Officially retiring from teaching in 1995, Eckmair focused his time on his own work, continuing to draw, carve, print and exhibit. He became the art director for Birch Brook Press, a publisher of hand-crafted letterpress books and art in Delhi, NY, and was responsible for wood engraving illustrations of many books and publications. At the time of his death, he was working on several major projects when he wasn't feeding the squirrels or the neighborhood dogs, or having coffee at John's store. He and his wife, Leigh, collaborated on countless projects for school and community organizations.

Two weeks before he died, in a letter to a friend and former student, Eckmair wrote:

“Fun we all need, but then work is another story, which I’m also part of. … Health remains a problem. Something like anxiety. With what? From me the answer is the whole f**** world. All the work is in my head and one day it’ll bloom into one form or another, prints, etc. Take care of the North Country.”