I have painted almost exclusively in oils since I began pursuing excellence in art as a life goal in 1978. I have painted a handful of portraits for special occasions, otherwise my focus is on the landscape. When selecting a subject for a painting I try to find an unusual composition that conveys some sense of motion. Clouds. Water. Rocks that erode or fold or fault. Rocks that have fallen. Trees that explode with growth, twist, fall and decay. I see landscapes that are typically described as timeless and enduring as being snapshots. Here today and gone in an epoch. Currently I am trying to convey a sense of the physical structure of the landscape, both grand and quantum, in my compositions. I am increasingly seeing landscapes as allegorical models for the universe.

I enjoy the challenge of water. It's semi-tranparent. It reflects, refracts and distorts. Things float on it, sink in it, grow in it and stick through it. One world above, one below, and one on the surface.

My interest in the landscape led to studying geology and other natural sciences, including biology and forestry at UMass. I am fortunate to have been befriended and supported as an artist and illustrator by various faculty at UMass and Amherst College.

The artistic accomplishment of which I am most proud is the completion on the large Triassic landscape on permanent display at Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, Ct. It is the product of careful research and consultation with several leading scientists in the fields of Paleontology, Paleobotany, Geology, and Paleoecology. I recently completed a 'companion' diorama painting of the Connecticut Valley region as it may have appeared in the early Jurassic for the Amherst College Museum of Natural History.

Though my landscapes typically lack a human element I enjoy working with people. I have painted numerous commissions. I get great satisfaction from illustration, from visualizing and making real another person's ideas.

I welcome serious inquiries regarding commissions and illustrations. Feel free to contact me at willsillin@comcast.net

Bio-

Current Residence- Sunderland, Ma. 01375

Education-
B.A.- Wesleyan University, Middletown, Ct- 1977
M.S.-University of Massachusetts, School of Natural Resources, Amherst, Ma.- 2001
Xi Sigma Pi, Forestry Honor Society, Full Membership, 2001

Art Education-
Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, Lyme, Ct., 1978
studio with Salvatore Grippi, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, 1979
studio with James Valerio, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 1980

Permanent Exhibits
In The Late Triassic, 14'x 29' mural, Dinosaur State Park, Rocky Hill, Connecticut
Jurassic Morning, 8' by 14' mural, Amherst College Museum of Natural History, Amherst, Mass.
Paintings of the East Border Fault Basin, Triassic and Present, Amherst College Museum of Natural History, Amherst, Mass.
The Triassic, Greenfield Community College, Greenfield, Mass.

Exhibits-
Display paintings as available, Guild Art Centre, Northampton, MA., 2001 to present
Then and There, Landscapes, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York, 2009
Guest Artist, Isle of Shoals Marine Biology Lab, Isle of Shoals, NH., 2006
15 Pioneer Valley Artists Celebrate University Heritage Trees, Exhibit and Calender, Student Union Art Gallery, UMass, Amherst, MA. 2002
Art the Heart Calendar, Published by ServiceNet, Northampton, MA. 2001
Group Exhibit, The Hart Gallery, Guild Art Center, Northampton, MA. 2001
Northampton Center for the Arts & Northampton City Hall, Northampton, MA. 1999
Landscapes, Dinosaur State Park, Rocky Hill, CT., 1993
Days On Earth, Greenfield Community College, Greenfield, MA., 1991
2 person show, Lake George Arts Project, Lake George, NY., 1987
Big Places, Pratt Museum of Natural History, Amherst College, Amherst,MA., 1986
Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield Art League National Juried Exhibition, Springfield, MA.,1984, (Grumbacher Gold Medal)
Hall of Flowers, Haight Ashbury Artists Group Exhibition, San Francisco, CA. 1983
Gallery Endoge, Erotic Art Group Exhibition, San Francisco, CA. 1982

Published Illustrations include
Perspectives on Animal Behavior 3e, Goodenough, McGuire, Jakob, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ., 2009
Endocrinology, Vol 149, No.9, for Rolf Karlstrom, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA., 2008
Raid On Deerfield: The Many Stories (http://1704.Deerfield.history.museum) & (http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/maps/landscapes.html) for the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, MA. 2004
Great Day Trips in the Connecticut Valley of the Dinosaurs, for Brendan Hanrahan, Perry Heights Press, 2004
Functional Anatomy of Vertebrates, edition 3, for Liem, Bemis & Walker, Thomson/Brooks Cole, Belmont, Ca., 2001
Cell and Development Biology, Volume 13 No.6, for Rolf Karlstrom, University of Massachusetts, Mass., 2002
The Auk, Vol 119, No.4, for Andrea Ward, University Of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA., 2002
Apoptosis, cover illustration for Lawerence Schwartz, Academic Press, 2001
Exploring Franklin County, A Geology Guide, cover illustration for Richard Little, Earthview Press, 1989

other-
assorted visualizations for The Roger Rulewich Golf Group, Bernardston, MA.
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