Sam Knecht earned his MFA degree in painting from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He pursued post-graduate study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia. He has taught art and art history and chaired the Art Department at Hillsdale College continuously since 1978. National honors include First Place/Watercolor in the 2009 Members Only Competition, Portrait Society of America. That award involved his egg tempera painting titled “The Woodcutter.” His artwork was featured in International Artist (2010) and Best of Oil Painting, Vol. II, 2009, Kennedy Publishing.   His art studio and paintings were covered prominently in the autumn 2010 issue of American Artist Studios.  Articles about his work in egg tempera appeared in American Artist magazine (1981) and ARTIdeas (1990). National juried exhibits featuring his work have included: Midyear Annual Exhibition, Butler Museum of American Art (2007); The Legacy Lives, Leverhouse Gallery, New York City (1996); and Romantic Realism, Grand Central Galleries, New York City (1992).