Ziegler began his undergraduate studies at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) from 1974 to 1976, and later transferring to the Kansas City Art Institute where he received a BFA degree in 1978.
Together, Ericson and Ziegler made site-specific installations and objects concerned with mapping trajectories, questioning history, and highlighting the specificity of places and communities.
In the Wall Street Journal review of their 2014 exhibition at Perrotin Gallery in New York, Carol Kino writes: “Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler were ardent pioneers of the art now known as "social practice.
"”[8] Throughout his career, Ziegler’s practice has examined the role of art in public space, the socially-constructed dimensions of our natural environment, the value of manual labor, and the importance of collaboration between the artist and the broader community.
Ziegler has established the Sandhills Institute,[16]“a catalyst for the creation of civically-engaged integrated art in and around the agricultural community” on the historic Davis Pine Creek Ranch near Rushville in north-west rural Nebraska, where he hosted a short form field trip residency for artists in June 2015.