Artist's CV
Bill Girard: A Brief Biography
Bill Girard: A Brief Biography
- William J. Girard Jr., (Bill) was born in Royal Oak, MI, a suburb of Detroit in 1940. He lived there until his death in 2011.
- At age 14, he won a National Scholastic Gold Key Award in sculpture.
Bill Girard: A Brief Biography
Bill Girard: A Brief Biography
Bill Girard: A Brief Biography
- In the early 1960s he met art and antique dealer, Allen Abramson, who became a lifelong Girard collector and dealer.
- His first solo exhibit was at the renowned Fisher Theater, Detroit, in 1964.
Bill Girard: A Brief Biography
- Girard was hired as an adjunct instructor of drawing by the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts in 1968, and became a full-time professor of art in 1980 at the renamed Center for Creative Studies (CCS) .
- Girard was released by CCS in 1998 after he helped organize a union drive.
- Girard was a gifted and original representational artist with a profound interest in mythology.
- In post-WWII America, such art became terribly unfashionable.
- Nonetheless, Girard attracted a small but devoted group of collectors and supporters.
- Although his name is virtually unknown within the art world at large, his best work continues to elicit the passionate interest of collectors.
Solo Exhibitions
2008 - Fiorini Gallery & Frames; St. Petersburg, FL
2004 - Fiorini Gallery & Frames; St. Petersburg, FL
2003 - Fiorini Gallery & Frames; St. Petersburg, FL
1998 - The Studio Gallery; Alexandria, VA
1988 - Creator of the Inaugural President's Award, Michigan Humane Society: Man in Harmony with Nature; awarded to W. B. Doner and Co. Advertising
1985 - Business Consortium for the Arts , City of Southfield Cultural Arts Dept.; Art in the Workplace (Traveling Exhibit)
1974 - Modello's Bower Street Gallery; Detroit, MI
1973 - J. Walter Thompson Advertising Co. Gallery; Detroit, MI
1970 - Adam's and Eyve's Gallery; Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1967 - Silver's Company; Detroit, MI
1966 - Sponsored by Mrs. Betty Kleinbaum; NYC, NY
1965 - Sponsored by Mrs. Bernice Kent & Cleveland Playhouse Guild; Cleveland, OH
1964 - Fisher Theater; Detroit, MI. Sponsored by Joseph Nederlander.
Group Exhibitions
2007 - MASTERS OF THE ARTS & CRAFTS: Tony Williams, Bob Vigiletti, Bill Rauhauser, Gordon O'Rear, Jay Holland, Bill Girard. CPop Gallery; Detroit, MI
1998 - The Studio Gallery; Alexandria, Virginia
1997 - CMF Gallery, XXX Rated International Artists' Peep Show; NYC, NY
1997 - Sabbatical Exhibition: Bill Girard, John Ganis, Susan-Aaron Taylor. Center Galleries in the Park Shelton. Detroit, MI (Reviewed by Marsha Miro, Detroit Free Press)
1996 - Drawing Invitational; The Michigan Gallery
1992 - T'mara Gallery; Ann Arbor, MI
1991 - Fine Arts Exhibit, Center Gallery, CCS, Center Gallery; Detroit, MI
1989 - Sabbatical Exhibit, CCS, Center Gallery; Detroit, MI
1987 - Faculty Exhibit, CCS, Center Gallery; Detroit, MI
1986 - Eight Sculptors Exhibit, Pontiac Art Center; Pontiac, MI
1984 - Director's Choice. DeGraaf-Forsyth Gallery; Ann Arbor, MI
1981 - Dennis Knight, Urban Jupena & William Girard at the Power Center, U of MI; Ann Arbor, MI.
1978 - 8th Annual Somerset Invitational Show; Troy, MI
1977 - Power Center, University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, MI
1972 - Bill Girard & Bob Eichenberg at Habitat Gallery; Detroit, MI
1972 - Birmingham Bloomfield Art Association
1971 - Faculty Exhibit, CCS, Center Gallery; Detroit, MI
1970 - Society of Arts and Crafts Faculty Exhibit
1967 - Butler Art Institute Mid-Year Exhibit (Bulter Institute of American Art); Youngstown, Ohio
1965 - Michigan Artists & Craftsman's Exhibit; Honorable Mention: The Tree of Knowledge (Bronze)
1954 - Gold Key Award, National Scholastic Competition
Lectures and Jury Participation
1985 - Lecture/Slide Presentation: Meldrum & Fewsmith Advertising Agency; Southfield, MI
1984 - Juror; Annual Michigan/Ontario Freedom Festival Exhibition, Comerica Bank Gallery; Detroit, MI
1983 - Scagliola Technique Lecture: U of MI. Sponsored by the Michigan Academy of Arts, Science and Letters
1977 - Lecture/Demonstration: Gesso Castings, Frame Making and Scagliola Work, Grosse Pointe War Memorial, Grosse Pointe, MI
1973 - Lecture: Artist's Lecture Series, Detroit Institute of Arts, sponsored by Your Heritage House; Detroit, MI
1971 - Assisted Maryann Scherr in design and fabrication of four miniature sculptures commissioned by the ALCOA Aluminum Company
1971 - Member, Preliminary Jury: Michigan Craftsman's Exhibition, Detroit Institute of Arts; Detroit, MI
1966 - Juror: 10th Annual Ecclesiastical Art Exhibit, Historic Trinity Church; Detroit, MI