Artist William Downs generously created a series of drawings for the Patrons and Sponsors of the 2020 Hambidge Art Auction + Virtual Performance Party. Togetherness at Hambidge is one continuous horizontal drawing on separate sheets of paper created in Fisher Studio at Hambidge. Inspired by Downs’ residency experience, the work shows residents connecting to the Hambidge landscape, each other, and themselves as they take part in a variety of activities, from making art, doing yoga, and walking in the woods, to sitting around a campfire and having conversations. Each piece is 13.5in x 9.5in; ink wash, spray paint, and spray glitter on paper.
An image with colored tint indicates the piece was claimed.
William Downs, born in Greenville, South Carolina, creates and resides in Atlanta, GA. He earned his multidisciplinary MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art and his BFA in Painting and Printmaking from the Atlanta College of Art and Design. He continues his educational practice as a visiting guest lecturer and adjunct professor.
Downs has shown in a sundry of group and solo exhibitions at venues across the United States and abroad including: E.C. Lina Gallery, LA, Contemporary Art Museum, MS, and the Century Gallery in London. In 2018, he received the Artadia Award and a Nellie Mae Rowe Fellowship at the Hambidge Creative Residency Center Program. Downs’ work featured in the Art AIDS America exhibition which toured nationally for a year headed by Rock Hushka and Johnathan Katz. Following, his work was chosen for the prolific Black Pulp! exhibition piloted by the International Print Center New York. This exhibit also showed at The Contemporary Art Museum at the University of South Florida and the African American Museum in Philadelphia. As a recipient of the MOCA GA 2019/2020 Working Artist Project, his show William Downs: Drawings of Wildness and Silence… will be on view September 5-October 31, 2020.
Downs’ work is included in numerous permanent collections including the Peggy Cooper Cafritz Collection, Portman Collection, Schrager Collection and both the Birmingham Museum of Art & the High Museum of Art. He’s featured in various publications such as Black Pulp, Artforum, Sculpture Magazine, and Grizzly Grizzly’s 10 Years – 10 Essays – 10 Exhibits. His work is represented by Sandler Hudson Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia.