During the 60’s Schanker continued with his fascination with the circle.  It was first expressed in new, often brightly colored oils on canvas that harkened back to his unique usage of color in his early prints.  During the second half of the decade Schanker who had spent many years carving wood for his wood block prints and who had done several sculptures during his career, turned to large modern sculptures composed of blocks of mahogany and other hard woods.  A second group of sculptures were made from woods local to his East Hampton Long Island and Stamford Connecticut homes that the artist first charred in his fireplace.

The decade began with a one man show of his paintings at the Willard-Lucien Gallery in Greenwich Village in 1960.  The next year the University of Kentucky Art gallery chose three of Schanker’s drawings for their Graphics 61 exhibition.

In 1962 the book About Prints, by Stanley Hayter featured a Schanker print. Hayter spoke of Schanker's activities in the WPA including his position as Supervisor of the New York Printmaking group and of his respect for Schanker as a master artist and teacher. 
    ".. Within this organization Schanker inducted a great number of young Americans
      into the craft of wood-cut - more especially his particular technique of printing from
      different blocks wet on wet, to give results approaching the richness and complexity
      of oil painting.... and from his example the great development of color woodcut in
      American chiefly stems."

In 1962 Schanker had a major show of his recent oils at the Dewey Gallery on Madison Ave in New York City.  Emily Genauer in the Herald Tribune said,
     These were large, new “Circle Images,” with circles, swirls and spirals, full of layering
      and color.

More reviews.
      The rewards of the Schanker show then, are not just handsome exhilarating pictures,
       but the spectacle of a veteran constantly growing evolving, refining,

       These paintings of luminous swirling circles make a breath – taking exhibit.

 
       .....there are rewarding poetic associations to geometrical compositions that are
       themselves handsome in design and brilliantly luminous in color.”

The newspaper article announcing the forthcoming 1962 show of Schanker’s oils at the Bleeker Gallery in East Hampton referred to him as
      ....a recognized master in the field of wood block color printing …
       regarded by art critics as one of America’s leading avant garde painters

In 1963 he had a show at the local New Palz Gallery in Poughkeepsie New York near Bard College. 

Other examples of his work during this period traveled the world as part of several group shows.  He had an exhibit at the Tate gallery in London, England. Another show traveled to New Zealand and Tokyo.

During the summer of 1964 his works were included in two shows at the Parrish Museum in Southampton NY, "Printmakers of Long Island," and "The South Fork L.I. Its Artists."