William E. Elston was born on June 18, 1949 in Spirit Lake Idaho. He grew up in the rural area southeast of Spokane Washington. He studied painting at Fort Wright College of the Holy Names in Spokane, and at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. After earning a BFA degree from Fort Wright, Mr. Elston spent several years studying privately in New York and Boston.
His first experiments with landscape painting and drawing were done on a trip to Vancouver BC, Victoria BC and Seattle while he was still in high school. He continued painting landscape en plein air during his college years, and has made depicting the rural and urban landscape his principal area of interest.
Mr. Elston has taught at Fort Wright College, The Spokane Art School, The Academy for Realist Art (now The Gage Academy,) the Frye Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, and has been a guest lecturer at Marymount Manhattan College in New York, Whitworth College in Spokane, Eastern Washington University in Cheney, University of Washington in Seattle, and The Gage Academy. He continues to teach ongoing plein air classes and workshops in Seattle and surrounding areas.
William E. Elston is represented in Seattle by Davidson Galleries, and in Tucson Arizona by Borealis Arts. His work has been widely collected in the United States and in Europe, and is included in many public, private and corporate collections. These include Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, McGraw Hill, American Express, Ashforth Pacific, Miller Nash LLP, Swedish Hospital in Seattle, University Hospital, Bill and Melinda Gates, the City of Seattle and the City of Portland.
He founded Suzumebachi Design Services (formerly webXdesign) in 1993, which designs gallery, artist and art related websites, advises artists and arts professionals on their Internet presence, and other related matters.
William Elston also trains regularly in Seido Juku Karate. He has nidan or second degree black belt ranking, promoting in New York at World Seido Honbu in 2007. He has participated in many tournaments, in New York and in Tokyo Japan. He is an instructor in Seido Karate for adult and youth classes at the Northshore YMCA in Bothell, WA, and an asistant instructor for children's classes at Dale Turner YMCA in Shoreline, WA. He is also the Seattle Seido Karate webmaster (http://www.seattleseido.org).
| SELECTED EXHIBITIONS | ||
| 2010 | Fragments From a Larger Narrative, August, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA | |
| Celebrating Realism, group show, June, Museo Gallery, Langley, WA | ||
| 2009 | June Group Show, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA | |
| Works On Paper, Borealis Art, Tucson, AZ | ||
| 2008 | American Embassy in Moldova, Selected Work, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova (work on extended loan to Art In Embassies Program, U.S. Department of State) link to American Embassy in Moldova w/art catalogue in pdf format. |
|
| Century 21: Dealers' Choice, The Wright Space, Seattle, WA | ||
| Solo Exhibition – "Town & Country", Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA | ||
| Group Exhibitions, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA | ||
| 2007 | Group Exhibitions, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA | |
| 2006 | Group Exhibitions, Woodside Braseth Gallery, Seattle, WA | |
| 2005 | Group Exhibitions, Woodside Braseth Gallery, Seattle, WA | |
| 2004 | Elizabeth Leach Gallery Pearl District Grand Opening, Portland, OR | |
| 2004 | Group Exhibitions, Woodside Braseth Gallery, Seattle, WA | |
| 2003 | Group Exhibitions, Woodside Braseth Gallery, Seattle, WA | |
| 2002 | Water's Edge, Maryhill Museum, Goldendale, WA | |
| 2002 | Group Exhibitions, Woodside/Braseth Gallery, Seattle, WA | |
| 2001 | Group Exhibitions, Woodside/Braseth Gallery, Seattle, WA | |
| 2000 | Group Show, "The Male Figure", Martin/Zambito Gallery, Seattle, WA | |
| 1999 | Solo Exhibition, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA | |
| Solo Exhibition, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR | ||
| 1998 | Solo Exhibition, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA | |
| 1997 | Solo Exhibition, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA | |
| 1996 | 15th Anniversary Exhibition, Elizabeth Leach Gallery,Portland, OR | |
| Group Exhibition, El Waco Museum, El Waco, WA | ||
| 1995 | 100 Years of Northwest Painting, Bellevue Art Museum | |
| Recent Paintings, Davidson Galleries, Seattle | ||
| 1994 | Landscape Exhibition, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland | |
| 1993 | Solo Exhibition, Davidson Galleries, Seattle | |
| 1992 | Camera to Canvas, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue | |
| 1991 | Solo Exhibition, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland | |
| 1990 | Solo Exhibition, Davidson Galleries, Seattle | |
| 1990 – 91 | Barcelona Artists' Exchange Exhibition, Artist Equity Washington Chapter, Seattle, Vancouver, and Barcelona, Spain | |
| 1989 | Seattle – Tashkent Print Exchange Exhibition, Stone Press Gallery, Seattle and Tashkent, Uzbekistan |
|
| Solo Exhibition, Davidson Galleries' Seattle | ||
| 1988 | Contemporary Northwest Landscape, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland | |
| Contemporary Landscape, Litchfield Library, Litchfield CT | ||
| 1985 | The Figure in the Landscape, Artists' Choice Museum, curated by Jack Beal and Judd Tully, New York | |
| A Sense of Place, Pentagram Corp. w/ Metropolitan Life, Bank of California Center, Seattle | ||
| 1983 | Northwest Juried Annual, Cheney Cowles Museum | |
| 1982 | Boston Painters, Parkman House Mayoral Residence, Boston | |
| 1981 | Eight from Fenway Studios, Tichnor Library at Harvard | |
| 1979 | Artists and Friends, First Street Gallery, New York | |
| PUBLICATION | ||
| 2002 | REPRESENTING WASHINGTON, by Gussie Fauntleroy, Southwest Art Magazine, November 2002, Houston. |
|
| 2001 | ARTISTS EXPRESS, SCCTV cable channel, Interview by Billy King, produced and directed by Scott Morrison, archived on the SCCTV website, at http://www.scctv.net/arts/ae_20_Bill_Elston.asx, requires Windows Media Player. |
|
| 2001 | THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST LANDSCAPE: A PICTORIAL HISTORY, edited by Kitty Harmon, with an introduction by Jonathan Raban, Susquatch Books, Seattle. |
|
| 1999 | REVIEW, ELIZABETH LEACH EXHIBITION, Southwest Art Magazine, Houston. |
|
| 1994 | STUDIO VIEW – SEATTLE, by Bruce Barcott, THE NEW ART EXAMINER, January issue, Chicago. |
|
| 1995 | THE CAPTURED CITY, by Tom McTaggart, Seattle Weekly, Seattle. | |
| IMAGES SO REAL…, by Robin Updike, Seattle Times, Seattle. | ||
| 1993 | William Elston: Aesthetics of Subversion, by Elizabeth Bryant, Reflex Magazine, Seattle. |
|
| 1992 | MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION: CAMERA TO CANVAS AT THE BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM, reviewed by David Berger, Reflex Magazine, Seattle |
|
| 1991 | ELSTON'S WORK PORTRAYS…, by Suzanne Gladych Pate, The Spokesman Review, Spokane. |
|
| 1988 | REVIEW, by Charles Krafft, Reflex Magazine, Seattle. | |
| CONSULTING AND RELATED WORK | ||
| 2009 | Founder/owner, Suzumebachi Design Services. | |
| 1993 – 2008 | Owner webxdesign, consult and design for arts related websites | |
| 1993 – 95 | President and founding member, Northwest Figurative Artists' Alliance | |
| 1990 – 95 | Writer for REFLEX, a Northwest art journal | |
| 1986 – 88 | Editor and writer for Northwest Artpaper Illustrated | |
| 1985 – 86 | Writer for Vision Magazine, a Journal for the Visual Arts | |
| 1984 – 85 | Consultant, Cheney Cowles Museum Docent Program | |
| 1985 | Member of Board of Directors, Spokane Art School | |
| 1982 – 85 | Chairperson of Program Committee, Touchstone Center for the Visual Arts, Spokane | |
| TEACHING | ||
| 1995 – present | Private instruction | |
| 2007 – 2008 | Occasional lectures, Gage Academy, Seattle, WA | |
| 2001 | The Frye Art Museum | |
| 1995 | Instructor, Venetian Painting Techniques, Seattle Art Museum (in conjunction with the exhibition "Treasures of Venice: Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest") | |
| Guest lecturer, Cheney Cowles Museum, Spokane WA | ||
| 1994 – 96 | Instructor of painting and drawing, Seattle Academy of Fine Art | |
| 1994 | Guest lecturer, University of Washington, Seattle, WA | |
| 1983 | Guest lecturer Whitworth College, Spokane, Eastern Washington University. | |
| 1982 – 1985 | Instructor, Spokane Art School, Cheney Cowles Museum, Spokane | |
| 1979 | Guest lecturer, Marymount Manhattan College, New York | |
| 1973 – 75 | Instructor of painting, drawing and design, Fort Wright College of the Holy Names, Spokane | |
| EDUCATION | ||
| 1978 – 82 | Additional private study in New York and Boston | |
| 1969 – 75 | Fort Wright College of the Holy Names, Spokane | |
| 1971 | California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland | |
| Degree: Bachelor of Fine Arts, Fort Wright College, 1975 | ||
| SELECTED PURCHASES AND COMMISSIONS | ||
| PRIVATE COLLECTIONS | ||
| Mr. Matt O'Meara / Ms. Lisa Belden, Mercer Island, WA | ||
| Mr. Tom McQuaid, Seattle, WA | ||
| Mr. Wm. Dubin, Tucson, AZ | ||
| Mr. & Mrs. James Steiwer | ||
| Mr. & Mrs. James Baum, New York, NY | ||
| Mr. and Mrs. William Gates | ||
| Ms. M. Daly, Fairfield, CT | ||
| Mr. Patrick Duffy, Los Angeles, CA | ||
| Ms. Lois Foraker, Los Angeles, CA | ||
| Mr. & Mrs. Neal Fosseen, Spokane, WA | ||
| Ms. Judy Grollmus, Spokane, WA | ||
| Mrs. Bernard Kopcynski, Spokane, WA | ||
| Mr & Mrs Michael Moore, New York, NY | ||
| Mr. & Mrs. Lee Sahlin, Spokane, WA | ||
| Mr & Mrs Donald Thulean, Wash. DC, (presented by The Spokane Symphony Society) |
||
| PUBLIC COLLECTIONS | ||
| Seattle Collects 2000, City of Seattle, WA | ||
| The City of Portland, OR | ||
| Art in Public Places, Washington State Arts Commission | ||
| CORPORATE COLLECTIONS | ||
| Miller Nash LLP, Portland , OR | ||
| Evergreen Hospital, Kirkland, WA | ||
| The Seattle Tennis Club, Seattle, WA | ||
| McGraw Hill, Inc., New York, NY | ||
| Microsoft, Redmond, WA | ||
| Hewlett – Packard, Vancouver, WA | ||
| American Express, Seattle, WA | ||
| Chicago Title Insurance Co., Seattle, WA | ||
| Columbia Club, Seattle, WA | ||
| Washington Trust Bank, Spokane, WA | ||
| Swedish Hospital, Seattle, WA | ||
| University Hospital, Seattle, WA | ||
| Ashforth Pacific Inc., Portland, WA | ||
| Seattle University Law School, Seattle, WA | ||
| Frank Russell Inc., Tacoma, WA | ||
Davidson Galleries
313 Occidental Avenue South
Seattle, Washington 98104
206.624.7684
www.davidsongalleries.com
Borealis Arts
6530 East Tanque Verde Road, Suite 160
Tucson, Arizona 85715
520.885.2157
www.borealisarts.com
William E. Elston's exhibition, "Fragments From a Larger Narrative", runs August 5 through August 28, 2010 at Davidson Galleries in Seattle, Washington. Opening reception is First Thursday, August 5, from 6 –8 PM.
