Cityscape Series adding Cabo Fish Taco

Cabo Fish Taco with a little memorial day flair! People just love the food here. The entire series are monoprints with watercolor and colored pencil. 

Meredith Connelly's mushroom sculpture at Tremont and Camden. 

Hawkers at dusk! 

Cabo Fish Taco early evening! I like the distorted perspective in the cross walks. 

Meredith Connelly's sculpture from another view. 

Light rail dusk. 

Flower Child at sunset. 

Uptown from NODA. 

 

Big Announcement - Studio moving to McColl Center for Art + Innovation!

Beginning this summer Bosbyshell Art Studio is moving to the McColl Center for Art + Innovation. I am excited beyond words! I will be with eight other artists on the 3rd floor of the McColl Center. More information to come about when you can come to visit me! 

The images in this post are the ones I used in the studio juried process. 

 

Cityscape Mono-Prints New Series - 2 more complete

These cityscape sketches are just so fun for me. I finished two more! The one above is of Meredith Connelly's wonderful mushroom sculptures in the foreground and Camden Street in the background. Hacker's and Sullivan's restaurants in the far background. This is the time of day when everything is blue, just before its get really dark. 

The cityscape above is uptown Charlotte from South End. The building on the left is the former Phat Burrito now Flower Child! The Bee mural and umbrellas are nice! 

McColl Center for Art + Innovation

McColl Center Studio Application
 

Why are you interested in renting a studio at the McColl Center vs. another studio?

I am an artist deeply committed to my creative practice, and have reached a stage in my career that requires a deeper level of experimentation, challenge, collaboration with other creatives in an inter-disciplinary environment, and broader, more meaningful engagement with the public and arts professionals. As a long-time arts educator who adores teaching, especially to those who are underserved in the arts, I understand deeply the intrinsic value of environments that foster critical discourse, education, and knowledge-building practices, and I feel it is now my time to again become a student in my own education and skill-building. The opportunity that the McColl Center offers for collaboration with other artists and colleagues who can help me stretch and grow is critical. I am also a former resident of the Hungarian Multicultural Center in Budapest, and that powerful experience early in my artistic career served as an important navigator for many years after. I have a strong desire to experience that again in my resident city, so that I can deepen my practice in a meaningful way, and subsequently provide meaningful creative experiences for my community. The McColl Center’s reputation for excellence can undoubtedly provide me access to the resources to become a better artist, innovator, and creative contributor.



What do I hope to accomplish with a McColl Studio?

I have established two primary goals should I become a studio tenant at the McColl Center. The first goal is to become a more multi-faceted, dynamic artist through experimenting with my current practice, using a series called Trees that is in its beginning phases. By testing this series and changing scale, adding 3-dimensional, text, or environmental elements, or incorporating movement/performance into the series, each individual work becomes more impactful and engaging. This is also particularly important for me to enhance and become more experienced in techniques and mediums I have not traditionally incorporated.

My second goal is to use the studio, and the visibility it affords, to spark awareness, dialogue, and action around climate change, using my Trees series as a catalyst. The McColl Center provides a place for artists to respond to any number of critical issues our society faces, and a studio of my own would allow me to build upon that platform to diffuse the messages of climate awareness and activism in our community. My Trees series allows me to express my passion and appreciation for the role trees play in our natural spaces, health, and community prosperity.

Artist Statement for 2021!

 

Artist Statement

I am an artist whose work is rooted in a love for the natural environment, and our intimate but often unconscious relationship with it. My ongoing observation and time amidst both urban and natural landscapes allows me to center my practice on honoring and protecting the world, while simultaneously paying homage to the beauty it provides. Growing up immersed in a seascape menagerie full of natural curiosities, my work stems from personal questions and ongoing studies of how nature can serve our needs, and conversely, how we must also meet the needs of the natural environment.

My particular fascination with trees lies in my belief that trees are not proverbial abstract things but individual, living beings with personalities and stories to tell. Bringing those stories into a daily consciousness is at the heart of my creative process. By centering on the interaction between the texture of the bark, the natural design of the limbs and the depiction of scars left by time and weather, I am able to achieve an asymmetrical balance that stimulates our minds and invites us to develop a more personal relationship with trees—leading to greater understanding of their importance in the ecosystem and the spiritual place they hold in the world.

Biography updated for 2021!

Biography

Wil Bosbyshell received a BFA (as a member of the ROTC) and MBA from the University of Georgia, and spent six years as an officer in the US Army following his undergraduate education. After a successful business career in the private sector, Bosbyshell was awarded a residency at the Hungarian Multicultural Center in Budapest, which set the course for his artistic career. He has held a studio at the Charlotte Art League for 23 years, and has been an arts professor for close to two decades at both the former Art Institute of Charlotte and Rowan Community College. His work has been shown in numerous gallery and community exhibitions, both solo and collective, including Shain Gallery, Central Piedmont Community College, and Elder Gallery, where his participation in the 2018 group exhibition Weight received critical acclaim from the New York Times. Bosbyshell and his work also had a feature in the prestigious Watercolor Magazine, and he has been highlighted in numerous other publications both locally and regionally. His work can be found in dozens of private and corporate collections locally and nationally. Bosbyshell is dedicated to community service, with a particular focus on youth, and has served on various boards and leadership positions, including for Scouts and a Group Living Housing Corporation at the University of Georgia. He resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.

 

Dry Brush & Ink Wash Demonstration

This watercolor dry brush demonstration is my most watched video at over 135,000 views. Fun!