About
William Pye
William Pye started his career as a sculptor working mainly in stainless steel and cast bronze, and since the nineteen eighties water has become an integral element of most of his work. His work is found in public places, private gardens and corporate clients internationally including exhibitions in Brazil (Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro), Venice (Peggy Guggenheim Museum), U.S.A., Hong Kong, Japan and Italy, and many in the U.K.
Charybdis II, Oman
William Pye’s observations of natural forms, combined with his creative use of geometry, lie at the heart of his sculptures.
Although brought up in London, Pye spent a lot of time at his family’s country home in Surrey, and was constantly fascinated by the water that abounded throughout the area. Capturing on camera the local ponds and pools, reflections in still water and on its rippled surfaces, he dammed streams to make cascades and recorded the way water reacted to his intervention.
On his travels he would photograph water: a particular gorge in Spain, a still, deep pool on a mountaintop in Mexico and water flowing down a mountain road in Wales are only three examples from his vast photographic library. Pye has used his reference material constantly: since his stainless steel sculptures, and from the 1980s when he introduced water as a major sculptural element in his work.
Tavola, England
Timeline
- 1938 – Born London
- 1958-61 Wimbledon School of Art
- 1961-65 School of Sculpture, Royal College of Art
- 1965-1975 Part time teaching sculpture in many institutions, including The Royal College of Art and Central School
- 1970 First exhibition and subsequent tour of the USA
- 1975-76 Visiting Professor of Sculpture at California State University
- Awards: first prize at the Budapest International Sculpture exhibition in 1981, two ABSA awards and the Royal UENO Award in Japan; in 2004 a Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
- Honorary Fellow of the RIBA
- President of the Hampshire Sculpture Trust
Milestones
- Two fountains for Dumfries House, Scotland, 2014
- Two vortex water sculptures in Muscat (Oman) and Campinas (Brazil), 2012
- Large water feature ‘Vannpaviljong’ for Drammen’s town centre (Norway) in 2011
- A new font for Salisbury Cathedral in 2008
- Eight pieces in the Serpent Garden at Alnwick Castle in 2005
- Three pieces in the Mariinsky Concert Hall, St Petersburg, 2007
- Water Wall at the British Pavilion, Seville Expo 1992
- Slipstream and Jetstream at Gatwick Airport North Terminal, 1987
- Zemran on London South Bank, 1971
Fonthill Tavola, England
Alchemilla, Wimbledon, England