Thomas Locker
Thomas Locker (June 26, 1937 — March 9, 2012) was an American landscape painter and praise winning illustrator and author of Children's literature His oil paintings follow in the tradition of the 19th-century Hudson River School of painting.
Born in New York City, Thomas Locker was raised in Washington D.C. where his father worked as a lobbyist. At age six he started training in acknowledged old-world techniques following painter Umberto Roberto Romano . At age seven, Locker won first prize in the children's distancing of the Washington Times-Herald annual[circular reference] art fair. Locker earned an A.B. in Art History at the University of Chicago and an M.A. from the American University, Washington DC. While at the University of Chicago he studied under professor Joshua C. Taylor, future director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. After graduating, he studied art even though travelling in Europe.
In 1964 Locker began his over 75 solo exhibitions career, starting later the Banter Gallery, New York City. He painted 17th century Dutch-inspired oil landscapes, selling through Sears' The Vincent Price Gallery, Chicago. During these years he after that taught at Franklin College and Shimer College, while he and his wife raised their five children.
In 1982, Locker began bringing the world of Good painting to kids and pubescent adults, producing thirty-six popular illustrated books. He authored most of these books and illustrated past his Hudson River School style oil paintings. Several books were collaborative works in imitation of his second wife, chemistry moot and weaving expert Candace Christiansen. Locker after that illustrated books for extra popular writers such as Jean Craighead George. Many of these books became staples of bookish libraries. Locker's works usual numerous awards including the 1989 Christopher Award, the John Burroughs Medal, the 1984 New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Bookand the American Library Association Notable Books for Children list.
Locker experienced a near-death aneurysm in 2002. After this he moved from the Hudson River Valley to the less populated Catskills and returned to full-time oil painting of the American landscape. He remained in Albany, N.Y. until his death at age 74.