Daniel J. Zinger (Born January 17, 1984) Born in Oneonta and grew

Daniel J. Zinger (Born January 17, 1984)
Born in Oneonta and grew up in Edmeston, NY. My mother (Connie Zinger) held various jobs
throughout her life, including a long stint as a seamstress, but spent most of her occupation lending a
hand to the family farm and taking care of her family and continues to do so. My father (Charlie J.
Zinger) grew up in the Philadelphia area in the heart of the 60s. Marrying my mother in his early
twenties and moving to Edmeston where he has been an auto mechanic for roughly the past 30 years. I
have a brother (Charlie W. Zinger) and sister (Carol Kennedy) who are about 4-5 years older than myself.
My brother followed in my father’s career path and is a skilled auto mechanic himself, living in the
Edmeston area. My sister is in the childcare field living in Western Massachusetts. My mother’s side of
the family were traditional and hard working, and my father’s side were creative and free thinkers. I
grew up drawing a lot and spending the rest of my time outdoors. I lived in the same house throughout
my childhood and adolescence. The house is on a dead-end road, in a very natural setting. I always
considered the edge of our lawn where man ends and nature begins. I completed high school and grade
school both at ECS and earned a Bachelor's degree in Computer Art from SUNY Oneonta. I was fairly
socially active through my early years into college and spent time playing music with friends, working on
art projects, having fun, and eventually started spending time with my current wife (Jess Edwards, now
Jess Zinger) while I was a senior at ECS. We both went on to the same college and graduated in the
spring of 2007. We moved back to the Edmeston area and lived in a few places together until we bought a
house in a neighboring town.
My professional career was always aimed at making art one way or another. I started off drawing
in my notebooks during class and through the years developed a solid base in the arts. Eventually I got
the opportunity to draw some illustrations for some of my teachers in high school, including John Chase
and Carol Lewis (I think it’s Carol, I always knew her as “Mrs. Lewis”). I would take on any chance to
create art for those around me. I designed a couple tattoos, airbrushed some golf clubs, painted signs,
designed some logos, and took whatever work that presented itself. I made some animations and played
music for fun and slowly built an eclectic set of creative skills. I worked at a local machine shop,
machining metal parts for government and other equipment. I would work at the machine shop during
summers and weekends throughout high school and college. Eventually my high school art teacher, Doug
Hallberg, introduced me to Adobe Photoshop Version 4 and I was amazed. I started working in Adobe
products ever since, primarily Photoshop in the beginning. By the time I went to college I was
well-versed in graphic design software. At college I had even more opportunities to work with new
processes and equipment. Such as a CNC plasma cutter, MIG welder, metal rollers, pen tablets, and this
was my first chance to use a good graphic design computer. I took classes in 3d animation, digital
painting, digital photography, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, art history and others. All of which
widened my understanding of the general creative process. I stopped working at the machine shop and
started working as a gallery assistant at the Fine Arts Gallery at SUNY Oneonta under Tim Sheesley.
Tim was the Gallery Director but also a Master Tamarind Printer with his own Lithography studio. I
took in all I could and was even invited to check out Tim’s studio. My girlfriend, now wife, and I were
also invited to extract some honey with my photography teacher Charlie Winters and to check out his
photography studio. These small chances through the years strengthened our character as individuals
and professionals. But we also had a lot of fun. As a gallery assistant I hung some really cool shows and
some notable art. Most notable to me I was able to hang a show for a comic book artist, Kim Deitch. I got
to meet with Kim and discuss his work. Towards the end of college I was a teacher’s assistant for the
Sculpture class. I also participated in many student art shows and was recognized in by the Chancellor of
SUNY for a drawing. In my senior year at college I was lucky enough to be part of a two-artist exhibit.
The other artist and myself were provided a gallery to design our exhibit as we liked. It was an exciting
opportunity and experience. At that point I had no idea what I wanted to do after college. I knew I
wanted to be a professional artist of any type and that I wanted to be financially secure. Upon graduation
I was willing to move anywhere in the country or even internationally. But this was a difficult task and I
found the job market for artists was volatile. It was a scenario where you needed experience to get the
job, but you couldn’t get the experience until you had the job. After searching for months, I started to
realize that the Graphic Design industry is probably my best chance to be a paid artist. I applied to print
shops, marketing agencies, sign shops, and eventually found a job close to home at a sign shop south of
Utica. I started in the Fall of 2007 and have worked there since. I started off doing simple design tasks
and producing smaller projects. Since I have taken on large corporate accounts and manage all of the
printing and equipment maintenance, I also work on a team of sign makers and designers. I enjoy the
wide variety of tasks that working at a sign shop entails. There is intricate computer design and
engineering, handling state of the art printing materials and equipment, as well as working with your
hands and building sign structures. Recently I have taken on aspects of managing the company including
hiring, purchasing materials and equipment, security, network maintenance, and training new
employees. In the future I hope to purchase the company and further my education as an entrepreneur
and artist. I also currently own a small business of my own where I create graphic assets and branding
materials for corporations.
My wife and I married in the summer of 2013. But were together for 12 years prior to the
marriage. We enjoy motorcycle riding, beer, wining and dining, kayaking, going to performances, and
just hanging out watching TV. She is currently employed as the Office Manager at Brewery Ommegang.
We have made many friends through the years and are excited about what the future holds!