JOHN MELUCH
A Brief Biography
I was born in 1948 in Lorain, Ohio - a once thriving steel town, twenty-seven miles west of Cleveland on the shores of beautiful Lake Erie. I attended Lorain schools where I excelled in basketball and baseball, graduating in 1966.
I continued my education at Western Kentucky University majoring in English, with a double minor in physical education and art. It was there that my interest in poetry was kindled through the mentoring of noted Kentucky poet, Frank Steele.
After graduating in 1970, I returned to Lorain and taught English at an inner city junior high for several years. The challenge of motivating underachieving adolescents forced me to adopt innovative and creative (experiential!), teaching strategies which I would eventually perfect to an extraordinary degree.
I returned to Western Kentucky to pursue a master's degree in English but instead found myself immersed in esoteric and psychological studies (Jung). This eventually led to my moving to Western Massachusetts where I became the Director of "Toad Hall" - a half-way house for emotionally disturbed veterans. It was during my time in Massachusetts that I met Wang Hui-Ming, master printmaker and calligrapher, and the venerable Robert Francis, the late poet laureate of Western Massachusetts. (Both of them would have an incalculable effect on my future development).
I eventually returned to Northern Ohio and found employment at the shipyard in Lorain, Ohio. When the shipyard, which at that time was the largest on the great lakes, shut down in the late 70's I became the "Artist in Residence" at Windmill Art - an art gallery in rural Elyria, Ohio. There, I created block prints, seriagraphs (silkscreen), and calligraphy. At this time I was co-editor of a literary magazine - SCARAB - which featured the work of Ohio poets and artists.
When the recession of the late 70's deepened and the market for artwork soured, I moved to Cleveland, received extensive training in the graphic arts and found full-time employment as a graphic artist.
After several years of doing everything from keylining, to paste-up to camera work, I returned to the classroom and taught English at Trinity High School - a suburban, Catholic institution. There, I developed and taught a creative writing course, "Flights of Imagination", which included the study of science fiction, supernatural, fantasy and poetry. I was also the founder and advisor of the school's literary magazine and poetry club advisor.
In 1990. I enrolled in a master's program in Experiential Education through Mankato State University and moved to Golden Valley, a suburb of Minneapolis. My graduate studies involved a triple focus on the life and works of John Dewey (and the Progressive Education Movement); the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead; and extensive readings on "Wilderness and the Sacred". I was also an instructor in "Walkabout '91" - a program of the Minn. Public Schools, National Youth Leadership Council and the City of Minneapolis. This nationally recognized program involved: service learning, peer and cross-age tutoring, experiential instruction, interdisciplinary learning and team teaching.
I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Mankato State University in 1993. I returned to Ohio and settled in Lakewood, a suburb of Cleveland, where I am presently an instructor in the Lakewood City Schools and a freelance graphic artist. I have also been a Curriculum Writer/Editor at The Center For Learning, Rocky River, Ohio. In 1996, I edited an anthology of stories w/lessons entitled SCIENCE FICTION: 19th CENTURY. Other involvement with the genre of science fiction during the past few years includes extensive reading on the life and work of the late Philip K. Dick and related studies in gnosticism. Digital collages by me currently posted on a website devoted to artwork inspired by the works of Philip K. Dick can be seen by clicking HERE.
I am a member of ASFA, Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists.
Several of my digital collages can be seen on my biography page at that website.
There are lots of great links for those who want to pursue any of these AND OTHER topics further!
E-Mail address: rhinolkwd@aol.com
