Willie Birch
Born 1942, New Orleans, LA
EDUCATION
1973 M.F.A., Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore
1969 B.A., Southern University, New Orleans, LA
1960-61 Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010 In Search of Sacred Place, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, FL
2007 Home Sweet Home, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2005 Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2003 Arthur Roger Gallery on Tchoupitoulas, New Orleans, LA
2002 Somebody’s Child, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Adams, MA
Transforming Identities, University Art Museum, Joel L. Fletcher Hall, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
2001-02 Willie Birch: 1994-1997, Zora Neal Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, Eatonville, FL
2001 Black Male, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2000 Free to Be in Black and White and Color, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY
1999 Witnessing New Orleans, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1998-99 Transforming Identities, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary Museum, Dallas, TX (traveling exhibit)
1998 Spirit House and Recent Work, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
1997 Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY
Dialogues and Heroes, Museum of African American Art, Tampa, FL
1996 From Bertrandville to Brooklyn, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC (traveled to Spoleto Festival, U.S.A., Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC)
Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
Not Just a Pretty Picture: Urban American Portraits, Satori Fine Art, Chicago, IL
Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
In Search of Heroes? Part I, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY
1994 Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
An Urban Perspective, Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA
Dialogues, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY
1993 Spirit House, Sculpture Center, New York, NY (traveled to Contemporary Culture and Documentary Art, Dallas, TX and Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY)
Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Paa Ya Paa Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya
Nairobi Series," York College Art Gallery, New York, NY
1992 Wake Up Call, Arthur Roger Gallery, New York, NY
A Personal View of Urban America, Exit Art, New York, NY (traveled to Afro- American Historical and Cultural Museum, Philadelphia, PA)
1991 Affirmations, Sculpture Center, New York, NY
College of St. Rose, Albany, NY
NYNEX, White Plains, NY
Sculpture Center, New York, NY
1990 Gallery 1199, New York, NY
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
1989-95 An Urban Perspective, Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2008 Prospect 1 U.S. Biennial, New Orleans, LA
In Katrina’s Wake, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, Texas
2007 Katrina: Catastrophe and Catharsis, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO
2006-07 Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery, New York Historical Society, New York, NY
2005 The Chemistry of Color, African-American Artists in Philadelphia 1970-1990, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Other Mainstream: Selections from the Mikki and Stanley Weithorn Collection, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
2004 Rap: Reflections of Our Time, Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Southern Journeys, Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA
2002-04 In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Smithsonian Institute
2003 Modern Story Tellers: Bearden, Birch, Lovell, Ringgold, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
2000 Go Figure, Lew Allen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
The Rutgers SummerFest 2000 Exhibition, New Brunswick, NJ
Sextablos: Works on Metals, Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans, LA (traveling exhibition)
Silver Select, Abrons Arts Center 25th Anniversary Artist/Curator’s Invitational, Henry Street
Settlement, Abrams Arts Center, New York, NY
Culture of Class: Issues of Class in North American Culture, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD
1999-2000 Outward Bound: American Art at the Brink of the Twenty-First Century, Meridian International Center, Washington, D.C.; cultural exchange project travelling to Vietnam, China, Singapore and Indonesia
1999-2000 Passages: Contemporary Art in Transition, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (travelling exhibition)
Upsouth, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL (traveling exhibition)
1999 Baton Rouge Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA
1998 New Orleans Triennial, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
The Colors of Rhythm, The Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
1996-98 Rediscovering the Landscape of the Americas, Santa Fe, NM (travelling to Tucson Museumof Art, Tucson, AZ; Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX; Western Gallery,
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA; Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY)
1996-97 Tragic Wake: The Legacy of Slavery and The African Diaspora in Contemporary American Art, Spirit Square Center for Arts and Education, Charlotte, NC
1995 Extensions: Large Scale Drawings, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY
48th Annual Purchase Exhibition, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
Jazz Y San, Pratt Manhattan Gallery and Pratt Institute, New York, NY
Semaphore: Placing the Mark, Bill Bace Gallery, New York, NY
1994 The Art of Watercolor, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY
Art en Route: MTA Arts for Transit, Paine Webber, New York, NY
Engaged Vision, Terry Ditenfass Gallery, New York, NY
Sea Change, Josh Baer Gallery, New York, NY
Collectors’ Show, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Grenensboro, NC
Collectors’ Choice, Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, FL
1993 Figurines!, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY
Word!, Jamaica Arts Center, Jamaica, NY
1992 Altars, Divinations and Icons, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA, curated by A. Weaver
Bob Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop: Artists of Color, Hillwood Art Gallery, Brookville, NY, curated by Noah Jemison
Green Acres: Neo Colonialism in the United States, Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis, MO
Voices from Mantua, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
Home Place, Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY, curated by Mark O'Brien
Remerica/America: 1492-1992, Hunter College Art Gallery, New York, NY, curated by Juan Sanchez
The Lower Manhattan Sign Project, The Repohistory Group, New York, NY
The Fourth R - Art, Euphrat Gallery, DeAnza College, Cuportino, CA, curated by Jan Rindfleisch and Patricia Albers
You Must Remberer This, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NY, curated by Emma Amos
1991 Origins, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, curated by Don Desmett
The Rage of Children, Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, FL
Images of Labor, Gallery 1199, New York, NY, curated by Anton van Dalen
Wild, Wild World of Art, The Lakeside Group, Chicago, IL
Repository, Brecht Auditorium, New York, NY
Re-Imaging America - A Voice of Dissent Project, Momenta Art, Philadelphia, PA
1990 Continuing Traditions: Contemporary African America Craft Artists, National Black Arts Festival, Atlanta, GA
Mayday: M'aidez! The Tallahassee Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
Dream Machinations in America, organized by Brian Goldfard and Steven Schiff, Minor Injury, Brooklyn, NY
INSTALLATIONS
2000 Spirit House, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
1993 Sculpture Center, New York, NY
SELECTED AWARDS AND COMMISSIONS
2002 Artist in Residence, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation
Mayor’s Arts Award, New Orleans, LA
2000 Artist in Residence, Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM
1997 Spoffard Juvenile Detention Center, Brooklyn, NY
1996 Louisiana Review of the Arts
NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority, Arts for Transit, 135th Street and Lenox Ave. (Mural)
Philadelphia International Airport, Terminal A (Mural)
1995 Municipal Collaborative Project for Downtown Winston-Salem
1993 John Guggenheim Fellowship (sculpture)
1992 Lila Wallace - Readers' Digest International Artists Fellowship
Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Visual Arts Residency Grant
1989-90 New York State Council on the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts Visual Art Fellowship
1988 Commission Public Art Fund, Inc., New York, NY
1987 Minority Third World Fellowship Award, Printmaking Workshop, New York, NY
1986 New York Foundation for the Arts Artists Fellowship Award
1985-86 Brandywine Workshop Visiting Artist Fellowship
1984-85 National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship Grant
1983 Commission, Public Art Fund, Inc., New York, NY
1980-81 Artist in Residence, Henry Street Settlement, New York
1977-78 Artist in Residence, The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY
1976 St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Baltimore, MD, (Sculpture)
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Claude Albritton, Dallas, TX
Arts Council of Greater New Orleans, LA
Atlanta Life Insurance Company, Atlanta, GA
David Beitzel, New York, NY
Bob Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, NY
Tim Blackburn Gallery, New York, NY
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, LA
Connie Boucher, San Francisco, CA
Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, PA
Brooklyn Union Gas, Brooklyn, NY
Capital Records, Hollywood, CA
Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN
Thomas Coleman, New Orleans, LA
Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
Harlem Hospital, New York, NY
Hatch-Billops Collection, New York, NY
Health and Hospital Corporation, New York, NY
Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY
Jesuit Educational Association, Baltimore, MD
Kenkeleba House Gallery, New York, NY
Miami-Dade Public Library, Miami, FL
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Microsoft Corporation, Seattle, WA
Mobil Corporation, Fairfax, VA
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Prudential Insurance Company, Newark, NJ
Smith Mason Gallery, Washington, DC
Southern University in New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
Temple University, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
The Lower East Side Printshop, New York, NY
The Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Tulane University Law School, New Orleans, LA
Howard Tullman, Chicago, IL
Universal Pictures, Los Angeles, CA
Whitney Bank of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA