William Carlson (b. 1950) received his MFA in 1976 from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and a BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art in 1973. He was formerly a Professor of Art and head of the Crafts and Sculpture programs at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign from 1976-2003. Throughout Bills academic career, he completed numerous major public commissions.

In 2003, Bill became the Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Miami. At the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Miami Carlson  significantly impacted the contemporary art glass movement as both an artist and an educator. In 1993 the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, Chicago, Illinois Academy of Fine Arts, nominated him for “Excellence in Glass Education”, Decorative Artist. The James Renwick Alliance, of the Smithsonian Institution of the National Galleries of American Art, awarded him the Distinguished Craft Education Award in 2004.

Carlson’s most recent recognition is through the Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art, Washington, DC. As a documented artist in the Archives of Oral Art History Program and invited to the Archives Research Collections in Washington, DC. As a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the Illinois Arts Council, he has participated in many one-person invitational and group exhibitions. He is widely published both nationally and internationally. His art is represented in numerous private and public collections. Following is a selected group of museums exhibiting his sculpture.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

American Craft Museum, N.Y.C., NY 

Cincinnati Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH

Corning Museum of Glass, Coming, NY

DeYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA

Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI

Evansville Museum of Art, Evansville, IN

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Hokkaido Museum of Modem Art, Sapporo, Japan

Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, TN

Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV

Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL

Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN

J.B. Speed Museum, Louisville, KY

Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL

Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI

Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA

Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, FL

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Milwaukee Museum, Milwaukee, WI

Mint Museum of Art, Charlottesville, NC 

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec, Canada

Musee Desbeaux-Arts De Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ

Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY

Museum of Decorative Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland

National Museum of Modem Art, Kyoto, Japan

Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Owensboro, KY

Racine Museum of Art, Racine, WI

Shimonseki Art Museum, Shimonseki City, Japan

Smithsonian Institution, The National Gallery of American Art,

Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO

Toledo Museum of Fine Art, Toledo, OH

Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan