Back to Art

Okay, I have been getting WAY off subject lately. The news and life in general have been viciously whisking me away from the relevant. I was sitting here thinking how I could get back to what matters... and I thought of Bill.

William Burgard is without a doubt one of my favorite artists. If anyone is on Facebook, they have faced (no pun intended) the "25 Things" where people write 25 things about themselves. Number ten on my list is:

"A few of my favorite artists are Turner, Miro, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Frida, Riviera and my friend William Burgard."

I met Bill in 2003, when I was trying to fulfill my credits at U of M here in Ann Arbor. Mary Schmidt, Assistant Dean of the School of Art and Design, mentioned this fantastic class titled, "Imaging Ann Arbor." It was rather mysterious, even for Bill. We were to design a public art piece for downtown Ann Arbor - specifically the State Street area.

Five years later... I have found an idol. Bill is amazing. His most popular work are the posters for the Summer Festivals he has created every year since the 1980's. However, all his work is consistently random and honest. In my opinion it begins with an image, perhaps a photograph (lets asks him), containing many loose ends.

I believe loose ends offer, although my sculpture teacher disagreed, so many opportunities. Bill finds these small, almost unnoticeable openings for design – and harvests them.

Bill discovers dining images that no one - absolutely no one - could think of.

I sat down with Bill roughly five months ago when I was frustrated with my job. He said "I remember feeling like that. I felt like I was being asked to do these drawings when I knew I could do so much more."

He did.