Curriculum Vitae

Artist Statement William Dolan explores the relationship of society to the urban realm through an interpretation of the built environment. Focusing on ignored, outdated and well-worn bits of the city; the infrastructure that is left behind, as people reshape their surroundings to support an increasingly homogeneous existence. These often-overlooked places are reflective of those that create […]

Artist Statement

Artist William DolanWilliam Dolan explores the relationship of society to the urban realm through an interpretation of the built environment. Focusing on ignored, outdated and well-worn bits of the city; the infrastructure that is left behind, as people reshape their surroundings to support an increasingly homogeneous existence.

These often-overlooked places are reflective of those that create and use them. Some of it will survive as an indication of what happened around the turn of the 21st. Century. Much of it will disappear. It is this simultaneous ambivalence and reverence that people have toward their habitat that Dolan expresses through his work.

The American city is ever-changing. As cultures continue to be economically and socially mobile, they are also physically on the move; one group leaves, another takes it’s place. Possibly, the constantly changing city is the most visible evidence of a society’s evolution.

Purpose

I hope that my work inspires people to experience and appreciate some of the more overlooked parts of the place where they live.  By having a deeper more meaningful connection to their home, they are inspired, enriched and in turn become more productive and enjoy fuller lives.

Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions

2020
Chicago Streets and Ways, two person exhibition with Karen Perl, Hofheimer Gallery, Chicago
2015
Alley Walk: A Trip Through Chicago’s Other Street Grid, AdventureLand Works on Paper, Chicago
2009
Street Walk, Beverly Arts Center, Chicago
2008
Art Chicago
2007
Art Chicago
2006
DePaul University, Chicago
2000
Chicago Public Library
1989
Morton College, Cicero, IL

Selected Group Exhibitions

2017
Sense of Place, Curators: Frank Tumino, Curatorial Chair of the Elmhurst Artists’ Guild; Carrie Secrist, owner of Carrie Secrist Gallery in Chicago; and Jenny Gibbs, Executive Director at Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL
2016
Heavy Metal, Berkeley Art Works, Martinsburg, WV
39th Harper College National Exhibition: Small Works 2016, Julie Rodrigues Widholm, Director of DePaul Art Museum, curator, Harper College, Palatine, IL
Landscape: A Sense of Place, Site:Brooklyn, Annette Rose-Shapiro, managing editor of ARTNews, curator, New York
2003
Morgan Park Art Center, Chicago
2002
Under Contract: Artists Look at Chicago Real Estate, Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
2000
Gallery artist, Raw Art Gallery, Chicago
1999
Rogers Park Artists (shown in conjunction with David Mamet’s The Old Neighborhood), North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, Skokie, IL
Gallery artist, Raw Art Gallery, Chicago
1996
1995
Gallery Artist, Gallicurcci Original Works, Evanston, IL
1993
World Tattoo Gallery, Chicago
1992
The Center for Visual and Performing Arts, Munster, Indiana
1990
Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL
1989
Akrasia Gallery, Chicago
Artbenches, public art installation, Navy Pier, Chicago
1988
Modern Love, Nicole Hollander, curator, ARC Gallery, Chicago

Catalogues

  • Small Works: 39th Harper College National Exhibition, exhibition catalogue, Harper College, 2016
  • Alley Walk: A Trip Through Chicago’s Other Street Grid, exhibition catalogue, AdventureLand Works on Paper 2015
  • Alley Studies 3: A Final Trip Through Chicago’s Other Street Grid, Neoteric Art 2014
  • Alley Studies 2: Another Trip Through Chicago’s Other Street Grid, Neoteric Art 2013
  • Alley Studies: A Trip Through Chicago’s Other Street Grid, Neoteric Art 2012

Writing

  • Co-founder and contributor to NeotericArt.

Articles and Interviews

Artist Talks

  • Artist Talk with William Dolan and Karen Perl, Hofheimer Gallery, Chicago 2020
  • Alley Talk: A Discussion About the Drawings at Alley Walk, AdventureLand Works on Paper, Chicago 2015
  • Dinner on DePaul:The Arts and Design, DePaul University, 2011

Award

  • 46th Annual Grammy Nomination for Best Recording Package, The Road to Bliss, Cathy Richardson Band

Education

  • 1984 BA Studio Art, DePaul University
  • 1986 Smith Post-BA Scholarship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Other

  • Studio assistant for William Conger