BIO

William H. Thielen was born March 18, 1954 in Pierre, South Dakota, where he grew up.  He did his undergraduate studies in painting at Northern State University, Aberdeen, South Dakota where he received a B.S. in Art Education Comprehensive (Painting with minors in Fibers and Sculpture) in 1977.  At that time, he realized that in making his art he wanted a broader base from which to work.  He, therefore, enrolled in graduate school under M. Joan Lintault at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.  He received his M.F.A. in Fibers in 1980.

Just after completion of his terminal degree, he was invited to be a multimedia panelist for Fibre-Form-Fusion, an international conference held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Shortly thereafter, in 1982, he received a visual artist fellowship grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

He has received purchase awards from the Evansville (Indiana) Museum of Art and Science in 1993 and the Mitchell Museum, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, in 2002; and merit awards from the 31st Annual Quincy Show, Elizabeth Sinnock Gallery, Quincy, Illinois, in 1981; the Alexandria Fine Arts Annual, Visual Art Center, Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1982; the Self-Images show at the Associated Artist Gallery, Carbondale, Illinois, in 1989; and the Evansville (Indiana) Museum of Art and Science in 2000.

In 1984 he was one of ten artists chosen to participate in the Interchange Program at the Banff Center for the Arts, Banff, Alberta, Canada.  This international collection of emerging artists spent the summer studying with artists from the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including Francoise Grossen, Gary Trentham, Ritzi and Peter Jacobi, Mildred Constantine, Mariette Rousseau, Patterson Sims, and Judy Pfaff.

In 1984-85, Sandra McMorris Johnson and Mr. Thielen took top honors in the National Endowment for the Arts-funded Fiberworks Exhibition and Projects Competition in Berkeley, California.  They were commissioned to mount a collaborative installation in their main gallery.

In 1990, he was one of five artists chosen in the "Big Art" competition of the Arts Festival of Atlanta.  His work was reproduced on a 12 by 48-foot billboard in the heart of downtown Atlanta, Georgia, for a period of over six months.

In 1992 and 1997, Thielen was awarded an Expansion Arts Grant by Southern Illinois Arts Council in conjunction with the Expansion Arts/Access program of the Illinois Arts Council.

He has conducted visiting artist lectures/critiques at Earlham College, Richmond, IN (2016), Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau (2009, -10, -12, -13); Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green (2009); Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield (2001); Western Illinois University, Macomb (1998); Lockport Gallery, Lockport, Illinois (1996); Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond (1994); Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana (1991);  Truman University, Kirksville, Missouri (1989); and Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington (1988).

From 1990 to 2000, he was on the Board of Advisors for the Gallery of Contemporary Art in New Harmony, IN.

In 1995-96, he had a traveling one-person show curated and sponsored by the State of Illinois Museum and Galleries System with exhibitions at Ina, Lockport, and Chicago.

He was a guest critic for the "Fall Arts Preview" in the Nuvo Newsweekly of Indianapolis in its September 14-21, 1994 issue.

Articles and reviews of his work have been published in Contemporary Art Curator Magazine (“100 Artists of the Future,” 2019); Create! Magazine (May, 2017); Studio Visit magazine (2015); Sculpture Magazine (Sep./Oct., 2015); the New Art Examiner (Sep., 1990); Art Week (June 1, 1985); the Los Angeles Times (June 4, 1981); Fiberarts magazine (July/Aug., 1985 & Sep./Oct., 1981); and numerous regional newspapers.  His work has appeared in Soft Sculpture by Carolyn Vosburg Hall (1981, Davis Publications, Worcester, MA).  He was a featured artist in Practical Mixed-media Printmaking Techniques, by Sarah Riley (2012, A&C Black Publishers, London).

In 2002, his work was part of “Five Hundred Abstract Works on Paper, 1922-2002” at Gary Snyder Fine Art in New York.  He was the only contemporary artist in the show mentioned in a review by N.F. Karlins in artnet magazine:  http://www.artnet.com/magazine/reviews/karlins/karlins8-7-02.asp.

He has continued his education by taking workshops at Anderson Ranch in Snowmass, CO with: Ross Bleckner (2011), Charles Cohan (2012), and Judy Pfaff (2016). 

Mr. Thielen is currently a full-time studio artist, living and working in Carbondale, Illinois.