William Hunter

b. 1947, Long Beach, California

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Arizona State University Museum of Art, Tempe, AZ
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Craft & Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
Cornell Museum, Ithaca, NY
Decorative Arts Museum, Little Rock, AR
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Fuller Museum, Boston, MA
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
University Of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
Wood Turning Center, Philadelphia, PA
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2007-08   Shy Boy, She Devil and Isis: The Art of Conceptual Craft, Selections from the Wornick
                               Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
2006        Transforming Vision: The Wood Sculpture of William Hunter, 1970-2005, Long Beach
                                Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
2004-06   Nature Transformed: Wood Art from the Bohlen Collection, Touring
                                University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
                                Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
                                Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY
2004        Masters of Their Craft, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach CA
                                Celebrating Nature: Craft Traditions/Contemporary Expressions, Craft & Folk
                                Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2003        Into the Woods, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
2001-03   Challenge VI- Roots: Insights & Inspirations in Contemporary Turned Objects, Touring
                                Philip & Muriel Berman Museum of Art, Collegeville, PA
                                Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
                                Washington State University Museum of Art, Pullman, WA
                                Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
                                Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
                                The Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR
2001-02   Wood Turning in North America since 1930, Touring
                                The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
                                Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC
                                Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
                                Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
2001        Against the Grain: Turned and Sculpted Wood, McAllen International Museum,
                                McAllen, TX
2000        The Fine Art of Wood: the Bohlen Collection, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
                Turning Wood into Art: The Jane and Arthur Mason Collection, Mint Museum of Craft +
                                Design, Charlotte, NC
1997-98    Expressions In Wood: Masterworks from the Wornick Collection, Touring
                                Museum of Arts & Design (Formerly American Craft Museum), New York, NY
                                Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA
                                McAllen International Museum, McAllen, TX

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2007        Shy Boy, She Devil and Isis: The Art of Conceptual Craft, Selections from The Wornick
                                Collection. Kangas, Matthew; Muniz, Julie & Ward, Gerald. MFA Publications,
                                Boston, MA
2006        Transforming Vision: The Wood Sculpture of William Hunter 1970-2005. Wallace, Kevin
                                Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
2004        Nature Transformed: Wood Art from The Bohlen Collection. Ulmer, Sean. Hudson Hills
                                Press, Manchester, VT
                Celebrating Nature: Craft Traditions/Contemporary Expressions. Wallace, Kevin. Craft &
                                Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
                500 Wood Bowls. Leier, Ray; Peters, Jan & Wallace, Kevin. Lark Books, Asheville, NC
2003        Wood Art Today: Furniture, Vessels, Sculpture. Meilach, Dona. Schiffer Publications,
                                Westchester, PA.
                Shifting Foundations, Craftwest. Perth, Western Australia
                Sacred Vessels. National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, New York, NY
2002        Craft Arts International. Issue 55. “Force of Nature.” Adamson, Glenn. Pp 40-44.
2001        Wood Turning in North America Since 1930
                                Wood Turning Center and Yale University Art Gallery, Yale University Art
                                Gallery, New Haven, CT
                Challenge VI- Roots: Insights & Inspirations In Contemporary Turned Objects. Holzapfel,
                                Michelle; Rice, Robin & Tyler, Christopher. Wood Turning Center,
                                Philadelphia, PA
2000        Defining Craft I: Collecting for the New Millennium. American Craft Museum,
                                New York, NY
                Turning Wood into Art: The Jane and Arthur Mason Collection. Ramljak, Suzanne and
                                Monroe, Michael. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, NY
                Living With Form: The Horn Collection of Contemporary Crafts. Arkansas Arts Center.
                                Bradley Publishing, Little Rock, AR
                The Fine Art of Wood: The Bohlen Collection. Fike, Bonita. Abbeville Press,
                                New York, NY
1999        Contemporary Turned Wood: New Perspectives in a Rich Tradition. Leier, Ray; Peters,
                                Jan & Wallace, Kevin. Hand Books Press, Madison, WI
1996        Expressions In Wood: Masterworks from The Wornick Collection. Cooke, Edward;
                                Kangas, Matthew & Perreault, John. Oakland Museum of California,
                                Oakland, CA
1987        Skilled Work: American Craft in the Renwick Gallery. Smithsonian Institution Press,
                                Washington, DC
1985        The Art of Turned Wood Bowls. Jacobson, Edward. Plume, New York, NY
1976        Creating Small Wood Objects as Functional Sculpture. Meilach, Dona Z. Crown
                                Publishers, New York, NY

ARTIST STATEMENT

Spheres of Transformation

Spheres of Transformation is that rare occurrence in an artist’s life’s work; the major leap forward that records a breakthrough to new heights. This body of work is a culmination in time of 40 years’ turning and sculpting, increasing my aesthetic and intimate knowledge of woods. Here, in these sculptures, I’ve brought together elements that have spoken powerfully to me over the years with completely new forms, new inspirations and
created my most expressive show to date. It is a watershed moment.

The multi-dimensional language of timbers, their energies and rhythms are among my tools of expression. But the creative essence, that Maslow “peak experience” comes when that language integrates seamlessly with eye, hand and soul in harmony; the transformative moment when the scientific and poetic become one.

I live for that wildly pure and wordless moment. It doesn’t happen very often and seldom extends over periods of months, and that is what makes Spheres of Transformation so special and significant in my view.

For almost a year, while in the throes of this series, I’ve felt utter harmony between material and maker, a working meditation. I was able to bring to bear all the tools of my work leading up to these pieces: philosophy, mystery, tactile attraction, gesture, rhythms, form and craftsmanship to communicate in that most ancient, wordless and primal way.

When you look at these pieces, there is a multitude of possible interpretations, the more the better. I hope you share in the flux of metaphors and universal recognitions that flooded over me, one after another, during the sculpting process, and that you resonate with the seductive qualities of beauty, elegance, harmony, spiritual vitality and tension working together to make up these new entities; their stories unfolding. I want you to feel with them, to recognize them. If I have successfully integrated ideas, materials, eye, hand and soul, then each personality within Spheres of Transformation will stir you as it has me.