It is rare that an artist has the opportunity to change the history of art, let alone during their lifetime. For more than three decades, beginning in the 1970's when he worked as Dale Chihuly's gaffer through to his retirement from blowing glass in 2007, Morris has been a major player in the studio glass movement. He approached the medium with a unique vision, one that wasn't solely dependent on achieving beauty. Rather, Morris took glass down a different path than his predecessors, embracing the ability of the material to transform into wood, bone, fiber and sinew. Morris' objects appear as if they have been unearthed as part of the archaeological record. The power of his work resides in this element of mystery. By tapping into the psychic unity or collective consciousness shared among all people regardless of where or when they lived, Morris harnessed a universal energy which is palpable in his work.
Born: July 25, 1957, Carmel, California
Education:
California State University, Chico, California
Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington
AWARDS
2007
Fellow of the American Craft Council, The American Craft Council College of Fellows, New York, NY
Aileen Osborn Webb Award, The American Craft Council, New York, NY
2006
Jurors Award, 34th Annual International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI
2005
Master of the Medium Award, James Renwick Alliance, Washington, DC Jurors Award, 33rd Annual International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI
2004
Jurors Award, 32nd Annual International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI
2002
Artist as Hero Award, National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA 2001 Visionaries Award, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
1997
Outstanding Achievement in Glass, Urban Glass Third Annual Awards Dinner, New York, NY
Distinguished Alumni Award, California State University, Chico, CA Featured Artist, Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, Artists Series
1994
National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Artist Grant
SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013
Abmeyer + Wood Fine Art, Seattle, WA
2010
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition, Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, Fort Collins, CO
2009
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition, Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, GA
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition, The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
2008
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
2007
“Native Species – The George Stroemple Collection”, Traveling Exhibition; Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA
2006
“Native Species – The George Stroemple Collection”, Traveling Exhibition; Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition, The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA
2005
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition; Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
International Museum of Glass, Tacoma WA
2004
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition; Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
“Past, Present, Future”, National Glass Centre, Sunderland, UK and Westfalisches Industriemuseum Glashutte Gernheim, Petershagen, Germany
2003
“Elegy”, Cinerary Urn Installation, Museum of Arts & Design, New York “Unearthed: The Glass Art of William Morris;, Pensacola Museum of Art, Pensacola, FL
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition; Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA
Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
“William Morris: Cinerary Urns;, Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, AL
2002
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition; Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX The Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
“Man Adorned”, Traveling Exhibition; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA
“William Morris: Two Installations”, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
2001
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN, The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
1999
“Myth Object and the Animal”, Traveling Exhibition; The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT
1997
Museum of Northwest Art, LaConner, WA
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Wood Street Gallery, Pittsburgh PA
1996
Meadows Museum of Art, Centenary College, Shreveport, LA
1990
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
1988
University of Michigan, Dearborn, MI
1985
Missoula Museum of Art, Missoula
1995
“Glass Now 17, World Studio Glass Exhibition”, Hokkaido Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
FILMOGRAPHY
2011
“Creative Nature: A Portrait of an Artist... Alive.”, John Andres, Spot Creative, Inc. (New York, NY), May 2008, 83 minute documentary film
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2009
“William Morris: The Early Artifacts”, by Linda Tesner, SOFA West Santa Fe Catalog, (Santa Fe, NM), June 2009, pgs. 24 - 29
“William Morris - On the Other Side of Making”, by Colleen Bryan, Profitable Glass Quarterly Magazine, (Westport, KY), Summer 2009, pgs. 6 - 10 and cover photo
2008
“Freeze Frame: The Sharply Contrasting Styles and Personalities of William Morris and Lino Tagliapietra Come To Light In Two New Documentaries”, by Benjamin Lozosky, Glass - The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly, (Brooklyn, NY), Fall 2008, pgs. 64 - 67
“William Morris: An Appreciation”, Chattanooga Times Free Press, newspaper, (Chattanooga, TN), August 17, 2008
2006
“The Columbus Musuem presents ‘William Morris: Myth, Object and the Animal’, Columbus Cultural Arts Alliance (CCA) Marquee Flash, newsletter, (Columbus, GA) February, 2006 Volume 4, Issue 2, page 4 - 5
“William Morris: Myth, Object and the Animal”, review of exhibition, Neues Glass Magazine (Germany), Summer 2005
“William Morris: Intuitively Wild”, interview with Renee Targos, Art Talk Magazine, April 2005, pgs. 24-25
“Artbeat”, by Judy Archibald, review of Myth, Object and the Animal exhibition, Wildlife Art Magazine, March/April 2005, pg. 67
“William Morris”, by Wolfgang Schmolders, Glashaus Magazine, (Germany), February 2005, pgs. 8-9
“William Morris: Myth, Object and the Animal”, review of exhibition, Soutwest Art Magazine, January 2005, Pg. 66
2004
“William Morris: Survival, Symbiosis of Human and Animals and the Collective Memory of Humanity”, by Shawn Waggoner, Glass Art Magazine,
November/December 2004, pgs. 6-14
“William Morris”, by Donna Karan, Interview Magazine, October 2004, pg. 188
“The Primal Art of William Morris”, by Chris Schnoor, Boise (ID) Weekly Magazine, July 21-27 2004, pgs. 13-16
“Extreme Glass: Nature Fuels William Morris”, by Dana Oland, The Idaho Statesman, Life Section, June 30, 2004, pgs. 1-6
“Artist Profile: William Morris”, by Consuelo I. Marshall, Lifescapes Magazine, April/May, pgs. 16
“William Morris: Dancing with Fire”, by Donna Karan, Woman to Woman, February, 2004
2003
“William Morris: Elegy”, Glass Magazine #90, Spring 2003, review of exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, pg, 18 “William Morris: Elegy”, review, The Statment E-zine, June 2003
2002
“William Morris: Man Adorned”, book review, Choice Magazine, October 2002
“William Morris: Man Adorned”, book review, Southwest Art, magazine, July 2002, pg. 176
“William Morris: Man Adorned”, book review by Edward K. Owusu-Ansah, Library Journal, June 1, 2002, pg. 140
“Universality of Mankind”, by Mary Thomas, review of Man Adorned exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, newspaper, June 1, 2002
“Man Adorned at the Carnegie”, by Kurt Shaw, Tribune Review, newspaper, Pittsburgh, PA , May 31, 2002
“The Unbroken Chain: William Morris’s Turkana Woman”, Fine Arts Magazine, M.H. DeYoung Memorial Museum publication, Spring/Summer 2002, pg.7
“William Morris: Man Adorned”, book review, Pacific Northwest Magazine, March 24, 2002, pg. 22
“William Morris: Mythic Master”, The World and I, magazine, March 2002, pgs.104-108
“William Morris to be Honored at Glass Now 2002”, Coalition Newsletter, National Liberty Museum, February, 2002
William Morris: Cinerary Urns, published in conjunction with exhibitions at The Chrysler Museum of Art and The American Craft Museum
Man Adorned, by Blake Edwards and James Yood, 2001, Marquand Books and University of Washington Press, Seattle and London
2001
“Myth, Nature and Art: William Morris Glass Blower”, Ovation, The Arts Network, program guide (Cable TV), July/August, 2001, pg.3
“Heat, Gravity and Motion: William Morris”, by Tina Cole, Sun Valley (ID) Guide, Summer, 2001, pgs. 34-39
2000
William Morris, Animal/Artifact, by James Yood and Tina Oldknow, 2000, Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, London and Paris
Review of William Morris’s permanent installation at the Portland Art Museum, by Geoff Wichert, Glashause, March 1999
1999
“Glass Master Expertly Explores Tension Between Nature and Man”, by Jean McKig, The Desert Sun (CA), newspaper, May 9, 1999
“Myth, Object and the Animal”, Traveling exhibition catalogue published in conjunction with the Chrysler Museum of Art, The Yellowstone Art Museum and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, 1999
1998
“Lost Cultures Haunt the Art of William Morris”, by Jeff Daniel, St. Louis Post (MO) Dispatch, newspaper, May 24, 1998, pgs. 68-73
“William Morris”, by Dana Dugan, Sun Valley Art, magazine, Summer, 1998, pgs.68-73
“William Morris: Glimmers of the Past” by Blake Edgar, Vetro, magazine, Premier Issue, 1998, pgs. 33-37 “William Morris”, exhibition catalogue, Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, MO April, 1998
1997
“William Morris Spirited Forms”, Morton A. Kaplan, The World & I, magazine, Fall 1997, pgs. 152-156
“Fragile Glass Meets Savage Force”, by Pamela Blume Leonard, The Atlanta Journal, newspaper, March 28, 1997
1996
William Morris, Artifacts/Glass, by Gary Blonston, 1996, Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, London, Paris
“William Morris”, by Matthew Kangas, Sculpture Magazine, March 1996, pg. 60
“Studio Glass Collection Showcased at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art”, by Karen S. Chambers, Neues Glas Magazine, January 1996, pg. 41
“The Met’s Glass Art Show Looks Very Seattle”, by Robin Updike, The Seattle Times, newspaper, June 24, 1996
“Interior Images”, exhibition catalogue, Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Shreveport, LA, 1996
“William Morris”, exhibition catalogue, Susan Duval Gallery, Aspen, CO, February, 1996
“The Animal”, exhibition catalogue, essay by James Yood, Marx Saunders Gallery, Chicago, IL, October, 1996
1995
“William Morris”, Edited by Satoka Shinoda, Glass & Art Magazine, Issue #8, 1995, pgs. 42 - 51
“William Morris: Glass Installation”, by Ron Glowen, The Everett (WA) Herald, newspaper, October 13, 1995
1994
“William Morris, Artifact Tooth Series”, Seattle Art Museum, brochure of limited edition sculptures. 1994
1993
“William Morris”, by Sylvia Netzer, New Glass, magazine, March 1993, pgs.12-21
“William Morris Glass Remains”, by Patricia Failing, American Craft Magazine, Feb/Mar, 1993, pgs. 49-51
“Glass Installations”, Catalogue of Exhibition, American Craft Museum, New York, NY, April 1993
1989
William Morris: Artifact and Art. University of Washington (Seattle) Press, ISBN 0-295-96917-2, Edited by Kate Elliott
1988
“William Morris; Brendan Walter Gallery, Santa Monica, “ by Ben Marks, review in New Work, magazine, Number 35, Fall 1988, pgs. 32-33
1987
“William Morris” by Lynn Basa, Review in New Work, magazine, Winter 1987, pgs. 8-9
1985
“Earth, Fire and Light in Glass and Clay,” New York Times, newspaper, by Priscilla Turner, March 17, 1985, Illustration pg. 24
Metropolitan Home, magazine, April 1985, Illustration pg. 129
1984
“Designing, Constructing and Blowing into Wooden Molds”, G.A.S. Journal by William Morris, pg. 50
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Auckland Museum, Auckland, New Zealand
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Daiichi Museum, Nagoya, Japan
Davis Wright Tremaine, Seattle, WA
The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Edmonds Arts Commission, Edmonds, WA
Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan
Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, TN
J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
The Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NB
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Missoula Museum of the Arts, Missoula, MT
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France
Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX
Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA
Niijima Contemporary Glass Art Museum, Niijima, Japan
Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, FL
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Pilchuck Collection, Stanwood, WA
Port of Seattle, Seattle, WA Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Racine Art Museum, Racince, WI
Rockefeller Center, New York, NY
Royal College of Art, London, England
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Permanent Installation, Seattle, WA
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Shimonoseki City Art Museum, Shimonoseki, Japan
Smithsonian Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC
State Foundation of Culture in the Arts, Honolulu, HI
State of Oregon Public Services Building, Portland, OR
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
The Pilchuck Glass Collection at City Centre and US Bank Center, Seattle, WA
The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
University of Miami, Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, FL
University of Michigan, Dearborn, MI
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT
