Bill Gorcica - July 12, 2008 5 to 9 p.m.
This event generously sponsored by the New London DAM Club
Bill Gorcica is a Professor of Art at St. Cloud State University in St.Cloud, Minnesota where he teaches multimedia art. With an undergraduate degree in biology from Virginia Tech and an MFA in visual arts from Rutgers University, he has followed an interesting path which merges art and science. His artmaking practice has moved from traditional mediums of sculpture, printmaking and painting to digital art, particularly interactive art which attempts to fuse traditional and new media art forms.
Oftentimes Bill has addressed the natural world in his work. Wild creatures become caricatured and emerge from the subconscious in his digital drawings. References to tree bark and manufacturing become hybridized in his "Zippered Stumps" series. Recreational equipment merge with images of national parks in his "Cultivating a Pseudonatural Experience" installation.
He has been part of a number of collaborative projects and has made some public art. His Winter in Summer - Ice Fishing House mini-golf hole incorporated all sorts of sculpted Minnesota fish and celebrates a local pastime and natural heritage of the region. This large-scale work was playable in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center during the entire summer of 2004, and was reproduced in ID - The Magazine of International Design in the September 2004 issue.
Most recently Bill has been able to delve into a number of design projects that connect directly to his interests in preserving the natural world and engaging people in it. He designed the 2008 Minnesota State Parks vehicle permit, working together with the Department of Natural Resources and Mille Lacs Kathio State Park. He is piloting an interactive art kiosk entitled Flora and Fauna at Maiden Rock, and is developing new works for his solo show here at ARThouse. This new work will be inspired by neighboring Sibley State Park and will include some new experiments involving sensor technology to control computer animation.
