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Biography
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Bill Barrett, one of today’s foremost sculptors, was born in Los Angeles, CA. He earned a B.S. and M.S. in Design from the University of Michigan, and later an M.F.A. from the same institution. Since the mid 1960’s Barrett has been exhibiting his unique metal sculptures and abstract paintings in numerous solo and group exhibitions in such places as the U.S., Switzerland, Bulgaria and Japan. Barrett’s sculptures of fabricated aluminum, bronze or steel address the interplay between positive and negative space with grace, elegance and exquisite balance. His works call to mind the fluid effortlessness of calligraphic strokes, and betray a positivism to which many viewers feel drawn. Others have said that Barrett’s sculptures are distinctly American in their directness and lightness. His sophisticated constructions, through a delicate balance of form and content, transcend the starker aesthetics of minimalism with a warmth and humanity. Barrett, who divides his time between New York City and Santa Fe, is represented in numerous private and public collections nationwide. Museum collections include the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, CT; the Cleveland Museum of Art, OH; the Knoxville Museum of Art, TN; the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, NM; the Harwood Museum, NM; the Fine Arts Museum of Oklahoma City, OK; the International Foundation Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, VA; the Utsukushi-ga-Hara Open Air Museum, Tokyo, Japan; and Runnymede Sculpture Farm, CA. His works have been installed on many university campuses, and he is frequently called upon to produce large public sculpture by commission. |
Resume
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Bill Barrett Born in Los Angeles, California Education: B.S. and M.S. in Design, M.F.A., University of Michigan Corporate Collections and Commissions 2001 K. Street, Washington, D.C. Belz Enterprises, Memphis,Tennessee Best Products Corporation, Richmond Bishop Ranch, San Ramon, California Eighty One Mainstreet Associates, White Plains, New York Garden Communities, La Jolla, California Hitachi Corporation, Kyushu Plant, Kanda, Japan Jade Pig Corporation, Gaslight Village, Grand Rapids, MI La Jolla Crossroads, La Jolla, CA Lincoln National Life Insurance Company Foundation, Fort Wayne, Indiana Neiman-Marcus, Dallas Pacific Enterprises, Law Library, Los Angeles Portman Corporation, Northpark Town Center, Atlanta Rockefeller Realty Corporation, #3 Embarcadero West, San Francisco Saint Vincent Hospital, Santa Fe Schulman Realty Group, White Plains, New York Sempra Energy International, San Diego, California The Corinthian Building, New York Tower Insurance Group, 120 Broadway, New York Trammell-Crow, Paramount, California Valley National Bank, Phoenix West Group, One Bunker Hill, Los Angeles
Museum Collections Aldrich Museum of Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut Allan Houser Foundation, Permanent Collection, Santa Fe Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Fine Arts Museum of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Goddard Visual Art Center, Ardmore, Oklahoma Grounds for Sculpture Museum, Hamilton, New Jersey Guild Hall Museum of Art, East Hampton, New York Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, New Mexico International Foundation Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee The Museum of Outdoor Arts, Englewood, Colorado Las Vegas Museum of Art, Las Vegas, Nevada Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York Norfolk Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia Pyramid Hill, Sculpture Park and Museum, Hamilton, Ohio Reading Museum, Reading, PA Runnymede Sculpture Farm, San Francisco Santa Fe Museum of Fine Art, Santa Fe Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, Arizona The Hyde Collection Art Museum, Glens Falls, New York The Utsukushi-ga-Hara Open Air Museum, Tokyo, Japan University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia Municipal Collections Ann Arbor City Hall, Ruby Church Memorial, Ann Arbor, Michigan City of Phoenix , Phoenix, Arizona Criminal Court Building , Hartford, Connecticut New York City, New Dorp High School, Staten Island, New York Nyack Plaza Mall, Nyack, New York Pennington Park, Patterson, NJ University Collections Albright College, Freedman Gallery, Reading, Pennsylvania Eastern Michigan University Library, Ypsilanti Hope College, Holland, Michigan Iowa State University, “In the Art on Campus Collection”, University Museums, Iowa State Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, New York Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Mitchell Wolfson New World Campus, Miami University of Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut University of Michigan, School of Dentistry , Ann Arbor University of Michigan, School of Engineering, Ann Arbor University of Michigan, School of Social Work, Ann Arbor University of the South , Sewanee, Tennessee University of Syracuse, Syracuse, New York |
On Specific Works
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| Stargate 6 | TWYLA |
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Bill Barrett’s welded sculptures evolve through distinct phases. Each phase is a place to be explored, each producing a series of works unified by a clear concept of form and technique. And then, motivated by a sense of completion – or more often by the spark of a new sculptural idea - he leaps to another sculptural plane, another space to be explored.
The full evolution of Bill’s artistic creation reveals that several formal ideas recur: the arch, the bridge and the virile, celebratory thrust of Don Quixote’s lance. Underlying it all is the grand theme of Bill’s search for an almost impossible synthesis between the tactile process of free modeling, the expressive gesture and the craft of welding sheets of metal. The power of the calligraphic gesture derives from two qualities. One is the immediacy of drawing, the hand responding to both the mind’s intent and to the graceful continuity of a cursive line. But calligraphy’s primary intent is to convey meaning. Even when adopted by an artist such as Jackson Pollock, it retains some of that referential quality, a suggestion of cryptic communication. For Bill, both aspects are important. From his earliest work he has aspired to the free expressive gesture. He has also felt deeply the need to communicate with people, and his pleasure is obvious when he feels that he as done so. The Sculpture Forum on the Plaza |
1.This is certainly a fine example of the value of public sculpture and how it can enhance the experience of the space and campus. Enjoy!
Dr. Susan J. Bandes 2. I just wanted to say thank you for the beautiful sculpture between the new parking ramp on Grand River and the Human Ecology building! Peopl love to sit and look at it, and talk about it with others. I find that looking at the piece from different angles gives me a whole new perspective. Thank you for making campus a beautiful place-people notice! Have a great day! Karen Mills
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