Willem Volkersz.com
illustrated history
Willem Volkersz e mail: wvolkersz@gmail.com
Education BA (with honors), University of Washington, 1965
MFA, Mills College, 1967
Teaching Montana State University, 1986-2001 (Prof. Emeritus)
Pilchuck Glass School, Summer 1999
Kansas City Art Institute, 1968-86
Leeds College of Art, Leeds, England, 1972-73
Ohio State University, 1967-68
Research Appointments
Visiting Fellow, Univ. of Kansas, 1986
Visiting Scholar, University of Kent, England, 1991
Administrative Appointments
Director, School of Art, Montana State University, 1986-91 and 1994-95
Director of Admissions, Kansas City Art Institute, 1981-83
Selected Fellowships & Grants
Individual Support Grant, Gottlieb Foundation, 2010
George Sugarman Foundation, 2007
Montana Arts Council Fellowship, 1997
Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, 1991
Mellon Senior Fellowship in the Humanities, 1986
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Polly Friendlander Gallery, 1970
Kansas City Art Institute, 1972
Leeds Polytechnic, Leeds, England, 1973
Montana State University, 1976, 1994, 1999
Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, 1974, 1976, 1987
Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, 1988, 1994, 2008
Holter Museum of Art, 1990
Yellowstone Art Center, 1990
Reed Whipple Cultural Center, Las Vegas, 1992
Museum of the Rockies, 1993
Western Washington University, 1994
Plains Art Museum, 1994
Salt Lake Art Center, 1995
Nicolaysen Art Museum, 1998
Museum of Northwest Art, 1999
University of Puget Sound, 2000
Indiana State University, 2001
Museum of Neon Art, 2002
Missoula Art Museum, 2002
Beall Park Art Center, 2003
Custer County Art Center, 2005
Holter Museum of Art, 2006
Northwest Missouri State University, 2010, 2019
Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, 2010, 2019
Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2011
Missoula Art Museum (installation), 2011
Emerson Cultural Center, Bozeman, Montana, 2013
Turman Larison Contemporary, 2013
Visions West Contemporary, Denver, 2014, 2018
Yellowstone Art Museum, 2016
Oats Park Art Center, Fallon, Nevada, 2017
South Dakota Art Museum, 2021
Selected Awards
Montana Governor's Art Award, 2020
James & Mary Ross Provost's Award for Excellence, Montana State University, 1999
Charles and Nora Wiley Research Award, MSU, 1998
Fridley Award for Distinguished Teaching, MSU, 1996
Work/Biography Included
Alaska Airlines magazine, May 2013
Illustration: A Visual History, Heller & Chwast, Harry N. Abrams, 2008
25 Years of New Glass Review, Corning Museum, 2006
New Glass Review, Corning Museum of Glass (2008, 2004, 1999, 1997, 1993, 1992)
The Sculpture Reference by Arthur Williams, 2004
Domestic Neon video, Media Works, Bozeman, MT, 2002
Glowing in the Dark film, Blue Plate Productions, Vancouver, BC, 1997
The Light Artist Anthology by Christian Schiess, ST Publications, 1993
Who's Who in American Art (since 1992)
Visiting Artist/Lecturer (selected)
Collectors Council, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 2016
Portland Art Museum, 2016
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, 2016
Yellowstone Art Museum, 2015
Yuma Art Symposium, 2014
Western Arizona College, 2014
Holter Museum of Art, 2011
President's Fine Arts Series, Montana State University, 2009
Kansas Artist Craftsman Association, 2008
Holter Museum of Art, 2006
Kansas City Art Institute, 2003
University of Northern Iowa, 2003
Swope Art Museum, 2001
Indiana State University, 2001
Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios, Orlando, 2000
Selected Reviews, Interviews and Articles
Letter to the Editor, Folk Art Messenger, spring 2020, pps. 32-33
NRC/Handelsblad (Amsterdam, Holland), Jan. 20, 2017
BBC Radio 4, December 1, 2015
Independent Record, Helena, MT, June 14, 2013 (front page article with photo)
Get Out!, Bozeman Chronicle, Feb. 8, 2013 (cover story)
Big Sky Journal, arts issue, 2012
Bozeman Chronicle, October 19, 2009
Artisan Northwest, Summer 2006
at home, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, April 18, 2006
LA Weekly, August 9-15, 2002
This Week, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, October 12, 2001
New Art Examiner, July/August 2001
Selected Publications (author)
Strange and Wonderful: The History of a Folk Art Collection Folk Art Messenger, Fall/Winter 2017
Who Is You--American Folk Artists and Their Audience,
Raw Vision 123, 2005
Neon: From Roadside Attraction to Museum Pedestal, in Neon: Current, Las Vegas, 2000
Roger Cardinal on Outsider Art (interview), Raw Vision, Spring 1998
The Plastic Madonna: The Found Object as Personal and Cultural Signifier in Contemporary Art, National Forum- The Phi Kappa Phi Journal, Spring 1996
Private Spaces/Public Places: Thoughts on Outsider Environments in Europe and North America, in Public Art Review, Vol. 4, #1, 1992
This is Art, This is Dream, This is Energy: Environments in France, Folk Art Messenger, Summer & Fall issues, 1992
Word and Image in American Folk Art, chapter in The Folk--Identity, Landscapes and Lore, University of Kansas , Lawrence, 1989
Cultural Imprint and Private Vision--Folk Art in America Today, Out of the Mainstream, Missoula Art Museum,
1987
Robert E. Smith, Story Painter, Forum: Visual Arts/Mid America, Vol. 12, #1, 1987
Folk Art Interviews, Archives of American Art, 1989