Bill Pariso

Hello, I’m Bill. I am a U.S.-based artist and educator whose favorite art materials are clay, sound and collaborating with people. I’ve always loved making things in clay, but learned the value of collaboration when I started teaching at the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum. My favorite thing ever made was a sixteen-foot pinata with 1,000 or more of our Museum visitors during spring break! The collaborative nature of the project made it all that more exciting, because many ideas contributed to the creative piece.

As an educator, I bring experience of teaching, from the very youngest preschool children to adults, about the creation of stuff -  things and art with real tools and real materials. These places of learning have happened at the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, pop-up street sides, community events, artist studios, libraries, galleries, colleges, school classrooms, and now, virtual spaces! I am guided in my own studio practice and my teaching pedagogy by craft tradition, material exploration, improvisation, and collaboration.

My goal as an educator is to encourage viewers to become participants of the made world around them. I hope to demystify art, craft and technology through the process of hands-on learning by tinkering, replication and dismantling of the objects that we come in contact with, use and love. The act of art making isn't special, but the discovery experience of working with materials and ideas is.

Collaboration is essential, whether it is on a physical thing or events that occur in a learning environment. Through collaboration, we gain the ability to generate a variety of solutions to real problems using our own ideas and sharing of each other's perspectives through these experiences.

I received a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and a MFA from Indiana University-Bloomington. Along the way, I have learned a great deal from the people I teach and friends at various artist residencies throughout the US and world, ranging from a lava cave in Iceland, a farm in Iowa, and art history from galleries in Beijing China.

I am looking forward to meeting you and learning from you as we make some neat things.