the champions

In 2018, Claudia Eckel scratched , gouged, and etched her way to the top of the IPKO with her contemporary plaster frescos, eliminating world famous oil painter Michelle Doll in an incredible final round to claim the title of the very 1st World Champion of THE INTERNATIONAL PORTRAIT KNOCKOUT.

Claudia Eckel is an artist, writer, and educator from southeast Pennsylvania. Claudia is currently a public school art teacher in the suburbs of Philadelphia as well as a mixed media painter. Claudia is melding her interests in juvenile narratives and textural painting into a unique visual language. She recently received her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Claudia has shown works in group shows throughout Pennsylvania, including exhibitions curated by the State Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Moore College of Art and Design, the Wayne Art Center, The Mainline Art Center, and The Plastic Club.

Claudia received the O'Neill/Rubin award for the "Outstanding Thesis Presentation" at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 2017. She has also been recognized as an art educator, receiving the SunEast Federal Credit Union’s “Best Teacher Under the Sun” award in 2016. This award acknowledged her work with high school students in Delaware County, as well as her numerous contributions to high school art exhibitions, lectures, and panel discussions addressing arts advocacy and the post modern art curriculum. She has presented at numerous Pennsylvania Art Education Association conferences, as well as Penn State @ 50, the 50th Anniversary of the historic Pennsylvania State University Arts Education Conference. Claudia received her BS in Art Education with a Minor in Literature from Penn State University (2007), her M.Ed from Gratz College (2013), and her MFA from The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (2017). She currently lives, works, advocates for the arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

to see more of Claudia's incredible work please visit her website: claudiaeckel.com/