Bruce Shingledecker

Bruce Shingledecker (August 9, 1945 – January 8, 2007) was an American painter. He was best known for his acrylic paintings of Alaskan wildlife, some of which included glacial silt in the paint for texture. In complement to painting, he was furthermore a composer and musician.

Shingledecker was born in Defiance, Ohio, where he grew up. Graduating from Defiance High School in 1963, he studied at Defiance College, where he played football. He then studied at the Chicago Academy of Art, after which he taught high school for several years. Shingledecker later volunteered for the United States Peace Corps and was an English scholarly at Bansomdet Teachers College (now Ratchaphat University Bansomdet) in Bangkok, Thailand in 1973 and 1974. Following his Peace Corps service, he taught English in Yokohama, Japan, which is where he met his wife, Kazumi.

In the late 1980s Shingledecker moved to Gustavus, Alaska, where he could paint without creature disturbed. He customary world reaction for his painting "The Sky is Falling" when the National Wildlife Federation chose it for a salutation card.

Bruce Shingledecker died of an apparent heart raid at the age of 61 in 2007, while riding his recumbent bicycle by the side of a snowy highway close his home. He was survived by his wife and two brothers.

In 2008 his associates donated two of his signed, framed prints to Defiance College and two to the Defiance Public Library.