William Wheeler
Year: 2021-2022
Nominating Institution: Vassar College
Field of Interest: Art – Performing Arts
Placement Organization: UCCA Center for Contemporary Art
Placement Location: Beijing, China
About William
Will currently is an Assistant Professor at Alfred University Sculpture. In 2016, a larger-than-life animated dog waved to passersby from an art gallery in Manhattan. Few knew that the dog’s movements were directly tethered to the artist, Will Wheeler, who was living in the gallery. This exhibit, like much of Will’s artwork, uses technology to address issues of equity and inclusion to audiences outside of the traditional art world. As an undergraduate at Vassar College, Will studied philosophy and studio art, and won awards in community service excellence. In a 2017 exhibition, they connected a handmade, virtual reality headset to a vintage voting booth, revealing that while immersive technology can allow us to inhabit fantasy, surreal politics make us skeptical of reality. In 2018, Will moved to Washington, D.C. to manage artist Sam Gilliam’s studio. Prior to their Luce Year, Will taught art at the Corcoran School of Art and at George Mason University. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Will realized that current technology did not support the collaborative exercises necessary for art education. Will decided to work with coders, teachers, and art therapists to build an art-making app that allows people to create together in real time and socially distanced.William's Scholar Story
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