Obituary
William Wareham
January 22, 1941 - April 17, 2023
William "Bill" Wareham always thought in visual images, every moment a challenge to balance tension and harmony in a painting or a sculpture. Bill was born in Ohio on January 21, 1941, but spent much of his youth in Accokeek, MD, near Washington, D.C. During his childhood he was intrigued by the history and art of Native Americans and would organize events for the local community to honor those tribes. Early on, he staged skits to express his artistic interests.
During high school, he was awarded a fine arts summer scholarship at Yale University. Later he attended the Philadelphia College of Art and the University of the Americas in Mexico City. In 1964, he joined the Peace Corps serving in the first Arts and Crafts program. During the three-month training program in Puerto Rico, he built a ten-foot-tall sculpture from recycled metal pieces that still stands today.
As a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru, he lived in a village in the southern Andes with Quechua-speaking artisans casting bronze objects based on ancient pre-Inca designs. On leaving Peru he embarked on a South American motorcycle trip back to San Francisco with fellow volunteer Yvonne Gavre.
Bill returned to Berkeley for graduate school at the University of California where he earned two MA degrees, in Painting and in Sculpture. During the 1970s his sculpture and art focus was influenced by Peter Voulkos as well as Mark di Suvero, Richard Serra, Manuel Neri, and David Smith. Bill was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, the Eisner Prize for Sculpture, and many more awards. He was featured on Good Morning America when he served as the first Artist in Residence at the San Francisco landfill recycling center to retrieve junk and transform it into art.
Bill and Yvonne were married in 1974 and had two children, Aloysia and Vasili, who enriched their lives. Bill taught at various Bay Area colleges and his work is included in the collections of the SF Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Museum of California, San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, San Pedro Harbor, Mare Island Shipyard, and in private collections. San Francisco Mayor London Breed presented him with an Honorary Award at a city celebration in 2019 for the installation of his large-scale sculpture at Hunters Point. One of his primary intentions was to transport the viewer to a new place by activating negative space and contrasting scale through steel. He also explored painted steel cut-outs and collaged paper drawings using hot beeswax, powdered lamp black, and house paint. All this with the purpose of bringing a great sense of visual delight. He often challenged himself by "folding" metal instead of cutting or welding it to arrive at a shape.
After 30 years of living in the Bay Area, Bill moved to a 42-acre former dairy farm near Mt. Shasta where his large sculptures and those of other artists dot the natural landscape. He was active in Yreka's Liberty Arts cooperative and was well-loved in his community.
Bill died on April 17, 2023, at the age of 82 in Yreka, CA. He is survived by his children Aloysia and Vasili, siblings Nancy and Bud, and former wife Yvonne. Gratitude to his many friends and colleagues, notably longtime supporters and believers including former Oakland Museum Chief Curator of Art Phil Linhares, Jon Rife, Art Horvath, Everett Snowden, Joe Slusky, Mel Lyons, Kim Presley, pals at Farleys and many others.
A celebration of Bill's life will be held on July 15, 2023, at Lava Rock AIR Sculpture Garden in Montague, California. www.williamwareham.com
Published by San Francisco Chronicle on May 10, 2023.
EDUCATION:
1971 MFA University of California, Berkeley, CA
1969 MA University of California, Berkeley, CA
1964 BFA Philadelphia College of Art. Philadelphia, PA
1964 Peace Corps. Cuzco, Peru
1963 Yale University. Award Scholarship, Program of Music and Art, Norfolk, CT
1962 University of the Americas, Mexico City, Mexico
SELECTED AWARDS:
1999 Djerassi Resident Artist, Pritzker Foundation Endowed Fellowship
1974 National Endowment for the Arts
1969 Eisner Prize for Sculpture, University of California, Berkeley, CA
1968 Eisner Prize for Sculpture, University of California, Berkeley, CA
SELECTED COLLECTIONS & COMMISSIONS:
Savings Bank, Wedge Series, San Francisco, CA,
Palo Alto City Hall Temporary Art Installation.
Richard and CB Watts, A Love Supreme, Portola Valley, CA,
Grounds For Sculpture, Annoweeka, Hamilton, NJ,
Mare Island Shipyard Workers Tribute, Award Commission, (SpiritShip), Vallejo, CA,
San Francisco State University, Buckeye, San Francisco, CA,
Avenue of the Arts, Redwood Shores, Rock on Top, Belmont, CA,
Runnymeade Farm, John and Dodie Rosekrans, Horned Totem I , Woodside, CA,
City Hall, Ancestors, Berkeley, CA,
Norcal Sculpture Park, Horned Totem II, San Francisco, CA,
Artist in Residence, William Harper College, Airslot VI, Pallatine, IL,
William Cook Incorporated, Airslot XXV, Sacramento, CA,
Runnymeade Farm, John and Dodie Rosekrans, Airslot XXIX, Woodside, CA,
Art Museum of Santa Cruz County, Wrap Up, Santa Cruz, CA,
Los Modonas College, Two Rock, Antioch, CA,
Chapman College, Ancestors I, Los Angeles, CA,
Claremont Hotel, Arica, Oakland, CA,
Sonoma State University, Nazca, Rohnert Park, CA,
University Art Museum, Gate (Triumph for Johnka), Berkeley, CA
RECENT SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2000 Robert Else Gallery, California State University, Artist in Residence, Sacramento, CA
1999 Pacific Heritage Museum, San Francisco, CA
1997 One Capital Center, Sacramento, CA
Aquatic Park Exhibition of large scale works in cooperation with the City of Berkeley, CA
1995 Gallery on the Rim, San Francisco, CA
1991 Oakland Museum Sculpture Court, Oakland, CA
RECENT GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
1999 Oakland Museum, What is Art For, curated by William Wiley & Mary Hull Webster,
1998 SFMOMA Rental Gallery, Pacific Rim Sculptors Group,
San Francisco, CA
1997 Claudia Chapline Gallery, Pacific Rim Sculptors Group , Stinson Beach, CA
1996 Triton Museum of Art, KTEH Art Auction, Award: 1st Prize (Catalogue), San Jose, CA,
Oakland Museum, reinCARnation Art Auction, Oakland, CA
1995 SFMOMA Rental Gallery, Artists Making Furniture,
San Francisco, CA
Contract Design Center, Two Artists One Space,
San Francisco, CA
1994 Richmond Art Center, Living in Balance: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Richmond,CA
Oakland Museum, An Impromptu Exhibit of Outdoor Sculpture, Oakland, CA
Holy Names College, Small Sculptures and Related Drawings, Oakland, Ca
SELECTED RECENT BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1999 Artweek, Review, William Wareham at Pacific Heritage Museum, by John Rapko 10/99
Talk Arts, Turlock, CA Cover: Energy Burst is Here
1996 Times Herald, Vallejo, CA, Wareham’s Ship Sculpture Lands at Mare Island by Robert Cochran
Times Herald, Sculpture on the Yard, Artist Pays Tribute to Workers and Ships by R. Freedman
1995 Contra Costa Times, Shipshape Art Finds Safe Harbor by Elizabeth Hayes, 10/7/95
Times Herald, SF Artist Tagged for Mare Island Memorial by Robert Cochran, 10/18/95
1994 Los Angeles Times, Sculpture May Have Been Taken For Junk, Associated Press 4/3/95
1993 San Francisco Examiner, Shipyard Artists Plan OpenHouse by Susan Kuchinkas 5/12/93
1992 Contra Costa Times, Something New Times Three by Carol Fowler 9/12/92
1991 National Enquirer, Artist Turns Trash Into Sculpture Worth $30,000 by Joe Mullins 10/29/91
San Francisco Chronicle, Sculpture: In Search of an Audience by Kenneth Baker 10/6/91
1990 San Francisco Chronicle, Wareham Sculpture at Victor Fischer by Kenneth Baker 12/13/90
San Francisco Chronicle, Landscape Fills a Room by Kenneth Baker
Metropolitan Home, The New Ashcan Art by Diane Dorrans Sacks
Visual Dialogue, Sculpture by Joanne Dickson June/August
SELECTED TEACHING & EMPLOYMENT:
1998 San Francisco Art Academy. Instructor, Mixed Media Graduate Seminar
1997 San Francisco State University, Instructor, Sculpture Seminar
1996 Venice Biennial, Italy, Mark di Suvero Installation
1993-91 Scene Painter/Constructor, San Francisco Opera,
San Francisco, CA
1986 San Francisco State University, Lecture/ Studio Visits, Sculpture Seminar
Curator, Esprit Park Show, Esprit Park, San Francisco, CA
1979-81 University of California, Lecturer, Advanced Sculpture, Berkeley, CA
1978 Sculptors Assistant, Mark di Suvero, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.
1975-70 Sculptors Assistant, Mark di Suvero, Various Projects
University of California, Lecturer, Advanced Sculpture, Berkeley, CA
1973 -68 Sculptors Assistant, Peter Voulkos, (Worked on large bronze sculptures)
1971-70 San Francisco Museum of Art, Preparator (Assisted Georgia Keefe with her retrospective)
Interview
"On my studio wall is a small sign (the lettering disappearing from age) that says: "Do not be afraid!" Perhaps intended as a morale booster to those WWII sailors going off to war from this shipyard: it now acts as an aesthetic reminder to pursue the creative act with vigor. But what is that? Is it to take a three-dimensional form to where it has not been before or mine the turf that others have excavated in the belief of finding new harmonies? Whichever path, to activate space with steel is a challenge. I try to resolve this with both knowledge and intuition asking myself constantly; "Is this solution too predictable?" I rework and change the forms to get a more dynamic relationship, interesting intervals, tension in the negative volumes or contrasting scale; all with the purpose of bringing a great sense of visual delight to our lives."
William Wareham creates a series of works with a strong common thread. From his earliest years as a fine art student at UC Berkeley in the late sixties, where Wareham used military surplus material in his sculpture, his concern with the medium and the technique is apparent. Through that search, he achieves some of the most consistently accomplished compositions in contemporary sculpture.
Wareham was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts in 1974 and the Eisner Prize for sculpture at UC Berkeley in 1968 and 1969. In 1999, he was awarded an artist residency at Djerassi. He was an assistant to Peter Volkos for five years and Mark Di Suvero for six. His other influences can be traced to Anthony Caro and David Smith.
Since his stint as the first Artist in Residence at the Norcal Solid Waste Systems facility in 1990, where he set up the studio and wrote the safety manual, Wareham has been using recycled steel as the primary source for his sculpture, but he goes far beyond what most artists do with recycled materials these days. It is the "pre-used history that the material inherently holds", he says, that inspires him. "These worn-out metal things will continue to have a life by gathering, refocusing, and rejoining into a collective other life". Wareham has full control of the new compositions, but they also appear to have an uncanny life of their own, a power as new objects that hold the key to the life of the old: it seems that the scrap metal was always meant to be an element of the new sculpture in the hands of the artist.
He has exhibited widely throughout California, including solo exhibits at the Oakland Museum Sculpture Court and the Pacific Heritage Museum in San Francisco, and in Nevada, Hawaii, Illinois, and New Jersey. Whether creating massive works for corporate or estate collections or human-scale sculpture, unique tables, benches, and chairs, or even pedestal-size- often kinetic- pieces, Wareham remains true to his inner drive to capture the viewer's consciousness through his powerful abstract sculpture.
- Circa 1990