| My parents Meredith Richards
and Larry Richards
are the two most generous and ethical people I know. Mom ran for Congress in Virginia's Fifth District,
and served for eight
years on Charlottesville City Council. She is also founder of the nonprofit
Computers4Kids. Dad teaches at the Mechanical Engineering Department at
UVA, where he has worked for over thirty years! He is widely recognized as an expert in the field of engineering
education, and has helped develop innovative, fun techniques to teach
engineering to middle school students. Both are cat fanatics! If any one
band has provided the soundtrack to my life, it would be The Beatles.
Recently I was fortunate
enough to see the unforgettable Paul McCartney in
concert- highly recommended! The film Yellow Submarine, designed by German
poster artist Heinz Edelmann,
was also an early influence.
The McGuffey Art Center is where I have
my printmaking studio. This unique artist cooperative is located in the
historic McGuffey School in Charlottesville, VA and is open to the public.
It features approximately forty resident artists who work in a variety of
media. Glassblowing, printmaking, painting, fabric arts, stained glass,
theater and performance art- all of these and more are represented at
McGuffey. Studio doors are open for the public to watch artists at work, and
galleries show artwork by resident and associate artists, as well as
hosting shows by outside groups and local schools. A truly special place.
I get probably 90% of my art photography done at Pro Camera in
Charlottesville. 35mm slides or 4 x 5" transparencies, ask for Bill.
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet literally saved my life.
In combination with a regimen prescribed by a homeopathic physician, this
diet helped return me to complete health after a near-fatal bout of colitis.
It works gradually, but if one sticks to the diet with an almost religious
fanaticism, I believe anyone can defeat UC, Crohn's Disease, and other
digestive ailments within a couple of years WITHOUT Prednisone or any other
ghastly and expensive medicines. Believe me when I say I tried everything,
and found that the Specific Carbohydrate Diet is the only thing that works.
All are welcome to email me with any questions you may have about it- I know
the despair you feel and would be happy to help you if I can. What have you
got to lose?
The web site of late-night horror host Count Gore DeVol is
a kooky place.
When I was a kid growing up in Charlottesville, I used to watch his show
every Friday night on DC Channel 20. He was a hammy vampire who presented
movies like "Attack of the Mushroom People" and "Creature
from the Haunted Sea" from his dry-ice mist enshrouded
"dungeon". As much as any person, this guy was responsible for my
lifelong obsession with monster movies. In real life, his name is Dick
Dyszel- also known as "Captain 20" to TV viewers old enough to
remember when TV channels were actually run by human beings.
Young God Records is the independent recording label started by Swans
front man Michael Gira. Gira is also the creative force behind the
band The Angels of Light, and has had a prolific solo career. It would be impossible to describe Gira's music in
terms that would do it justice- thunderous, haunting, uncompromising and startlingly
original. Gira's beautiful and apocalyptic lyrics are the perfect
accompaniment to our modern age. I
believe that one of these days the world will recognize Michael Gira as one
of the few contemporary musical geniuses. Just trust me- visit the site and
order a CD or two- you will not be disappointed!
Influences:
This is a partial list of the art and artists who have had a direct impact on my work. It's not everyone I'd like to
include- some artists, such as Joseph Mugnaini, J. G. Posada,
and my friend Ultan Rice, are criminally underrepresented on the Internet.
All of these sites are well worth checking out:
Discovering Phillippe Druillet's
comics Loane Sloane and Yragael: Urm was a defining moment in
my life. Druillet was the first artist I was aware of who could and would
draw anything. His sci-fi universe practically explodes off the page.
The prints of Russian "Paper Architects" Alexander Brodsky and Ilya
Utkin inspired me to learn
etching. I had the opportunity to meet the two of them when they
exhibited at UVA, and at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC.
Ian Miller has an
amazing pen + ink technique, and is one of the best fantasy artists working
today.
I discovered American cartoonist Gahan Wilson at a very early age.
The guy can draw slimy monsters like you wouldn't believe. His
comic "Nuts" is the most authentic depiction of childhood in the
comics.
My fear is that 500 years from now, the world will look like an H. R. Giger
painting. Giger is the Swiss surrealist responsible for the look of
the movie Alien,
and creator of the incredible book of paintings The Necronomicon and other works.
British cartoonist and illustrator Ralph Steadman
taught me the value of the expressive line. He is best known for
illustrating Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The
Curse of Lono. Ed Gorey
was a true original. Like many people, I first saw his art on the credits
of the PBS show Mystery, and later devoured his Amphigorey collections and
other illustrative work. Another important book in my life has been The
Secret Surrealist, by the great
painter and naturalist Desmond Morris. It would be difficult to estimate how much
Cinemagic magazine, created by low-budget filmmaker Don Dohler,
contributed to my artistic development during my impressionable teenage
years! You don't have to be making features to have a stellar career in film. Yvonne Anderson,
of the Yellow Ball Workshop, has been teaching the art of animation to
children since1963.
When I was six years old, my parents took me to Paris, where I saw Jean Tinguely
and Niki De Saint Phalle's
kinetic sculpture The Crocodrome at the Pompidou Center.
That experience showed me that art can be a lot of fun!
I was incredibly fortunate to meet my childhood hero Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets,
when I won first place (with Dan Zimmer- see above) in the Jim Henson Muppet
Design Competition in 1989. We got to tour the NYC Muppet facilities, and
meet all our favorite Muppet characters and the people who created them. Jim Henson
was the rare human being who changed our culture for the better.
From
designing modernist homes to making short educational films, true
inspiration shone through everything Charles and Ray Eames
ever touched. Check out their House of Cards and Solar Do-Nothing
Machine.
Theodore Geisel, A.K.A. Dr. Seuss,
possessed a wild and uninhibited imagination, and was author of some of the
best children's books ever. This is a really fun website!
In 1853, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins
unveiled the very first dinosaur reconstructions at the Crystal Palace in London.
His life-size sculptures still exist,
and some contemporary 360° views can be seen here. These and other
Victorian dinosaur depictions were the inspiration for my Primeval Times
series.
Steve Ingham is an artist and friend from way back. Since high school, he and I have been experimenting with fine and
graphic art, and bouncing ideas off one another. We both
went off to college in NYC at the same time, too. Steve has developed a distinctive
style, and is practitioner of many ink, pencil, and pastel techniques.
Scip Barnhart is a true master printmaker. He taught me intaglio
printmaking at the Corcoran School of Art. Now
he is the director of Union Printmakers Atelier in Washington,
DC, where he does lithography and contract editioning.
Growing up, I never had an art teacher that was worth a damn except Tim O'Kane. He no longer teaches, but the guy is a great artist
who draws and paints beautifully-observed realist figures, objects and
environments in sharp detail. It's not an exaggeration to say that Tim is right up there with Andrew
Wyeth and Chuck Close- check out his site and you'll see what I mean!
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