Scott Gordley graduated with an MFA from Tufts University. He is a former Department Chair of Art & Design and Director of the Animation/Illustration BFA program at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Mr. Gordley is currently Chair of the Department of Illustration at Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, FL. He began his career in New York illustrating for clients including Time, Esquire, Reader’s Digest, Newsday, Playboy, the London Times, Viking Penguin and Hearst Publishing. His work appears in many public and private collections and has been exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the United States and Europe. In 1999 he was honored with a 20-year retrospective in Vienna, Austria. Mr. Gordley has been recognized for his work by the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Print Magazine, Communication Arts and curator Peter Schjeldahl, chief art critic for the New Yorker magazine.
In 2011 Mr. Gordley was commissioned by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center to paint renowned stage and screen actor James Earl Jones from live sittings. The painting was unveiled at a gala event in New York City in honor of Mr. Jones attended by such luminaries in the acting community as Michael Douglas, Alec Baldwin, Vanessa Redgrave, Leslie Uggams, and Harold Prince. Additionally over the past 25 years, Mr. Gordley has been commissioned by the United States Coast Guard Academy to paint commemorative portraits of it's retiring USCG Superintendents, including Rear Admiral James Rendon and Rear Admiral J. Scott Burhoe. Admiral Burhoe’s portrait was unveiled in conjunction with the annual Commencement ceremonies and the Formal Change of Command. Speaker for the Commencement ceremony was President Barack Obama.
Mr. Gordley has lectured on art and education at the American University in Paris; the International Conference on the Humanities at Fatih University in Istanbul, Turkey; Arts In Society Conference, Venice, Italy; The International Conference on Learning, Barcelona, Spain; The International Conference on Education, Samos Greece, The International Conference on the Future for Education in Florence, Italy, Moholy Nagy University of Art & Design, Budapest, Hungary and Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design in New Zealand, among many others. Mr. Gordley is a member of the International Scientific & Education Committee for the International Conference on Education, The Journal of Literature and Art Studies editorial board and has served as an contributing editor for The International Journal of the Humanities.
In addition to his art, Mr. Gordley is a jazz & blues saxophonist, having played as a member of numerous bands including Little Anthony & the Loco-motives, Johnny & the East Coast Rockers, Erik Narwhal and the Manatees and his own group, the Scott Gordley Trio. He has appeared on stage with many jazz and blues artists including blues great Johnny "Clyde" Copeland, Susan Tedeschi, Shemekia Copeland, James Montgomery and Lloyd Chisholm. He has recorded with numerous national jazz & blues artists including Little Anthony, Johnny MacLeod and the Gamma Rays. Mr. Gordley’s exhibition at the famed Apollo Theatre in New York City in the summer of 2008 was a tribute to the history of jazz.