Bill FitzGibbons received his BFA in Sculpture and Art History from the University of Tennessee, and his MFA in Sculpture and Multi-Media from Washington University in St. Louis. Bill has received over thirty public art commissions in five countries. In 1979 he became the first curator at Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, Missouri. From 1985 until 1988 he was appointed as the Director of Sculpture at the Visual Art Center in Anchorage, Alaska. In 1988 he became the Department Head of Sculpture at the San Antonio Art Institute. In 1991 he was selected as a Fulbright Scholar for the Hungarian Art Academy in Budapest, Hungary. Bill has served on the adjunct faculty at Trinity University in San Antonio and has been the Executive Director of the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center since the summer of 2002. Currently Bill serves on the board of directors of the International Sculpture Center.
Public Art Commissions / Design Teams (selected)
- 2006 Light Channels, Site-specific public art project consisting of aluminum sculptures and hundreds of LED lights installed at the I-37 underpasses at Houston and Commerce Streets, San Antonio,Texas.
- 2003-2005 Skywall, 60’ long sculpture with LED lights located at the Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Texas.
- 2005-2008 Woodlawn Avenue Bus Stop Design Team with Pape-Dawson Engineers, streets and drainage project for the city of San Antonio.
- 2001 Heritage Park Duck Pond Plaza Design Team with Groves and Associates, redesign of a neighborhood park with public art for the city of San Antonio.
- 2000 Millennium Plaza, a site-specific sculpture for the University of Houston at Victoria, Texas.
- 1999 Day Star Archway, a 40’ tall archway and walkway at the San Antonio International Airport, San Antonio, Texas.
- 1996-1997 Design Team Participant, San Antonio Airport Expansion Project — Parking Garage.
- 1996 Rhode Island Lights, exterior neon sculpture for the Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, Rhode Island.
- 1995 The Epiphany of Five Rivers, commissioned by the River Pierce Foundation, located on the banks of the Rio Grande, San Ygnacio, Texas.
- 1994 Olaf, commissioned by the Hampshire Sculpture Trust to commemorate the millennium of the Viking visits, Hampshire County, England.
- 1992 Homage to Balder, commissioned by the Millesgarden Museum and Sculpture Garden to celebrate Swedish mythology, Stockholm, Sweden.
- 1991 Literary Garden, chosen for the Main Library in Gainesville, Florida (funding was not realized).
- 1990 Lemon Creek Plaza, Lemon Creek Correctional Facility, Juneau, Alaska, 1% commission-State of Alaska.
- 1988 Fifth Ave. Reflections, an interior and exterior neon sculpture for the 5 th Ave. parking facility, Anchorage, Alaska.
- 1988 North Star Plaza, an environmental sculpture for the Fairbanks Youth Facility, Fairbanks, Alaska.
- 1987 Solar Path, an environmental sculpture for Spring Hill Elementary School, 1% commission, Anchorage, Alaska.
Appointments, Boards, and Grants
- 2006 International Sculpture Center, Member of Board of Trustees
- 1999-2000 Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, President, Board of Directors
- 1996-2000 Adjunct Faculty, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
- 1995 Visiting Artist, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
- 1993 Fulbright Scholar, Hungarian Academy of Art and Design, Budapest, Hungary
- 1991 USIA, Artist Fellowship, Helsinki, Finland
- 1988 Associate Professor, Head of Sculpture Department, San Antonio Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas.
- 1985 Director of Sculpture, Visual Arts Center of Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska
Exhibitions (selected)
Bill FitzGibbons has had sixteen solo exhibitions and has been in over sixty group exhibitions over the past twenty-five years.
- 2007 Shattering Glass : New Perspectives , Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York
- 2006 Eellight , The Lab Gallery, New York City, New York
- 2000 Earth and Fire , San Antonio Museum of Art, an exhibition of ceramic sculpture, San Antonio, Texas.
- 1996 Northern Lights, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
- 1993 Out of the Fire , Laredo Arts Center, Laredo, Texas
- 1993 Jansen-Perez Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
- 1993 Carrington-Gallagher Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
- 1991 Pyro-Sculpture for Finland, Otso Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
- 1991 Hochsule fur Bildende Kunste, Brunschweig, Germany
- 1991 Mystery of Mother Earth and Her Relationship to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Blue Star Art Space, San Antonio, Texas
- 1988 Searching for the Balance, Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage, Alaska
- 1987 Alaska Sense, Alaska State Museum, Juneau, Alaska
- 1983 Light Motifs , St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
- 1982 Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York City, New York
- 1981 City Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, England
- 1980 Electrosculpture, Midland Art Centre, Birmingham, England
Public Art Lectures
- 2007 "Art in the Public Realm", Mid South Sculpture Alliance, Chattanooga, Tennessee
- 2005 “Leading the Charge,” Americans for the Arts, national annual conference, Austin, Texas
- 1997 “Beyond Site-Specific Sculpture,” Mid America College Association Conference, panel chair (participants were Robert Hobbs, Chris Janney, Richard Hunt), Richmond, Virginia
- 1996 “Public Art in the United States,” Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
- 1995 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence Rhode Island
- 1994 “The Artist as Urban Designer,” Art Point, Milton Keynes, England
- 1994 Winchester School of Art, Winchester, England
- 1993 “Central European Public Sculpture Conference,” Magyar Iparmuveszet, Budapest, Hungary
- 1992 “Spirituality in Sculpture,” panel International Sculpture Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1991 “Public Art in a Multi-Cultural Society: On Common Ground,” Santa Fe Arts Commission, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 1991 Art Academy of Finland, Helsinki, Finland
- 1991 Art Academy of Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
- 1991 Kornbrennerei Artist's Space, Hanover, Germany
- 1990 Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia
- 1988 “Alaska and its Effect on Environmental Sculpture,” International Conference on Sculpture, Dublin, Ireland
- 1988 “Public Sculpture Dialogue” with sculpture Nancy Holt, Mid South Sculpture Conference, Little Rock, Arkansas
- 1986 “Sky Art Sculpture Conference,” The Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- 1986 “Art in Public Places — A Public Forum,” Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage, Alaska
- 1984 “Art in the Environment Conference,” Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland
- 1983 “Environmental Sculpture Panel,” Mid America Art Conference, St. Louis Missouri
- 1983 “Public Art for the Eighties,” St Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
- 1981 “Public Art in the US,” Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
- 1981 Sunderland Art School, Sunderland, England