Sunday, Oct 12, 2014
Five decades of work by Bill White ranging from small works on paper to large-scale oil paintings
The Rider University Art Gallery will present the work of artist Bill White in an exhibition titled “Life in the Studio” from Thursday, Oct. 23, through Tuesday, Nov. 25. The exhibit will include an opening reception on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 5 p.m. and an artist’s talk on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. in the Art Gallery. Admission is free.
The exhibit will feature five decades of Bill White’s work ranging from small works on paper to large-scale oil paintings. Color is the hallmark of his work. The images are created from direct observation, showing the brush strokes as it gives shape to the image by means of color. Bill White said of this exhibit, “I hope that it will reveal something unifying about my journey over five decades of painting. I began as an enthusiastic teenager and remain an enthusiastic painter, one who still loves the very elemental and tactile material qualities of oil paint on canvas. I have a feeling for life and I hope it shows in my work. My love of color continues from my start as a kid and it drives my work still today.”
Bill White received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Philadelphia College of Art and his Master of Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Art of Temple University. He began teaching drawing and painting at Indiana University in 1970 and then joined the art faculty at Hollins University in 1971, where he taught until his retirement in 2010. He has received numerous grants from the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation and the Cabell Foundation. He has had residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and the Cite International des Art, Paris, France.
His works have been shown in the Taubman Art Museum, E. D. Wilson Museum, The Andrews Gallery, the College of William and Mary, the Masur Museum of Art, the Bowery Gallery, the State Museum of Pennsylvania, the Concord Art Association, the Virginia Historical Society, Northern Iowa University, the Gross McCleaf Gallery and the Noel Butcher Gallery. He has been in traveling group shows with Zeuxis, including its “Contemporary Still Life Painters” and the Virginia Museum, Richmond, Va.
His work is represented at the following art galleries: The Market Gallery, Roanoke, Va.; The Nelson Gallery, Lexington, Va.; and The Warm Springs Gallery, Warm Springs, Va.
The Rider University Art Gallery is located in the Bart Luedeke Center on Rider University’s campus, 2083 Lawrenceville Road, in Lawrenceville. It is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.rider.edu/arts.