Alfred Alexander Gockel was born in 1952 in the coal mining community of Ludinghausen in Germany. Both of his
parents were creative, his father being a designer and his mother a crafts maker. Fascinated early on by
the magic of color on paper, Gockel's talent and enthusiasm lead to the publication of his first artwork when he
was eight years old. "We did not have a lot of money when I was growing up," Gockel says. "My parents would take
me to the zoo and I would sit down and paint for hours. They really inspired me to be an artist." Educated in the
areas of typography and graphic design at Polytechnic in Munster, where he graduated in 1977, Gockel worked in the
advertising industry for many years. During this time, he also lectured at his alma mater in his specialized
fields.¹
Recommended books on Art: 30,000 Years of Art by Editors of Phaidon; The Collins Big Book of Art: From Cave Art to Pop Art by David G. Wilkins; The Art Book for Children, Book Two (Art Book for Children) by Editors of Phaidon Press; Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland; Barron's AP Art History 2008 (Barron's Ap Art History) by John Nici; AP Art History w/CD-ROM (REA) The Best Test Prep for the AP Art History Exam with TESTware (Test Preps) by Frank Chmiel, Larry Krieger, and Barbara McGowran; Art: A World History by Elke Linda Buchholz, Susanne Kaeppele, Karoline Hille, and Irina Stotland; Janson's History of Art: The Western Tradition by Penelope J.E. Davies, Walter B. Denny, Frima Fox Hofrichter, and Joseph F Jacobs.