WV filmmaker Bill Richardson accepted in WV Juried Art Exhibition
Bill Richardson joins other great filmmakers like David Lynch and many others in expanding their range of creative activity outside of film. Richardson is best known for his monumental film, “Mine War”(2004) about the Southern WV coal mine wars. He earlier had directed “Feud,” the best film ever made on the Hatfields and McCoys, and worked on Daniel Boyd’s film, “Smilin Sid.” Most recently he created a feature film using re-edited Flash Gordon footage that he called “Crash Gordon.” The film had its world premiere at the WV Intl. Film Festival in Charleston. Since then he has been recoving from a serious illness, and expanding into digital artworks.
Here is what he recently e-mailed me -
Just a little news. I got word a few days ago that I had a piece of art accepted in the West Virginia Juried Exhibit. This is the largest and most prestigious art exhibit in the state. It’s only done every two years and I was competing against around 500 submissions so it is pretty cool to get picked. In addition, once you’re in you are eligible for one of 18 awards, all of which have cash prizes associated with them. The Division of Culture and History also purchases some of the art to go into the state’s permanent archives. The pieces in the exhibit will also be for sale. The exhibit will be in Parkersburg this year from October 19th through February 8th. There will be an opening reception and awards ceremony October 19th starting at 7 p.m. to kick off the exhibition. The piece I got in is called “Ganesh.” It is my take on the Hindu elephant god Ganesh, who is the god of opportunity, which seems kind of appropriate since this is a really great opportunity for me. In the last few years I’ve been working mostly in digital art, using computer programs to create and modify images. My most recent series of pieces all began with some pre-existing image. It might have been an electron microscope picture of a plant or insect or a satellite photo of the earth. I then manipulate the images in various ways until I am able to achieve a result I find interesting. I’ll put a link below with the piece that got accepted and a few other pieces I’ve done. I’m currently involved in an art project with David Jeffrey that deals with the history of flooding inMingo County. Jeffrey is the nationally know artist who did the Sago Mine Disaster memorial. This project will be on display in Williamson beginning on August 15th. I’m also going to try and animate some of the images I’ve created as part of an animated film I’m thinking about doing. Hopefully it will be very strange.
To see some of his artworks - http://albums.photo.epson.com:80/j/AlbumIndex?u=4139308&a=32560830&f.During the last few years I have been providing Bill with copies of films by the Brothers Quay, Jan Svankmajer, and others. He told me about the great recent film, “Mirrormask” which I really enjoyed. Bill is like many filmmakers who start in the documentary side of filmmaking and continue outward to more creative ways of using film and making images. I look forward to seeing his animated films.
