Bill Worrell View My Art The walls of Worrell's house in Art, Texas reflect an influence of his Lower Pecos experiences. View My Art |
Tucked away in protected rock shelters above the South-Western Lower Pecos River lie the vestiges of an ancient American Culture of primitive people who occupied caves and began painting around 3500 - 3000 B.C. what are now known as pictographs These Ancient Native Americans mysteriously vanished around 1000 A.D., leaving behind the images they created with mixtures of mineral pigments, charcoal, and possibly blood and animal fat suggest an interesting connection with the sacred ceremonies of these early tribesman. Animals and other intriguing forms with and without faces, believed to have been the artwork of the ancient Lower Pecos Indian shamans, embellish the cave walls in stunning and mystical silence. One can only speculate upon their many symbolic meanings.
These prehistoric designs (pictographs), along with tools of flint, bone and wood, sotol and yucca weavings, and some skeletal remains are all that is left of the extinct Native American inhabitants of the Lower Pecos region of the Southwestern U.S.
For Bill Worrell, former university professor of fine art, this discovery was impressive and powerful - an experience that would forever change the direction and style of Worrell’s art work. Recalling, Bill Worrell says, "I was on fire with inspiration and spent the next several years studying and developing a style that would express my feelings and my emotions - or at least part of them - about the ancient art [pictographs] of the bygone peoples of the Lower Pecos River and the Middle Rio Grande, on the border if what is now Texas and Mexico." The inspiration led Bill Worrell to writing, then to drawing and eventually to sculpting in bronze. Today, Bill Worrell is one of the most collected artists in the Southwest, and around the world.
Addressing the subject matter from an aesthetic perspective, Worrell maintains that his creations are interpretations of the ancient pictographs rather than a documentation of their historical value. Bill Worrell says, "I have my own intuitions and notions about the [pictographic] art of these ancients. For me, understanding it is a spiritual experience, a spiritual exercise. It is not unlike getting a musical instrument in tune."
Worrell is continually energized by the challenge of creating ever-evolving variations of the timeless images as fine art, visualizing himself alongside his so-called "primitive counterparts" and striving to capture the essence of their expressions through the contemporary fine art methods of original mixed media and oil paintings and limited edition bronze sculptures. Worrell creates each sculptural design first in wax and then it is cast in limited edition bronze by the "lost wax" method. After the casting is extracted from its silica investment, it is cleaned and chastened. Dramatic contrasts are then developed on the sculpture by the application of chemicals that produce colorful patinas alongside highly polished areas.
When sculpting and painting, Worrell often writes simultaneously. These writings were initially brought to the public eye as inscriptions on the back of Worrell's bronze sculptures, acrylics on canvas, and wearable sculptures, and they offer a glimpse into Bill Worrell’s artistic mind at work. Written with heart and soul, these writings are Worrell's own intimate reflections and ponderings on subjects including the passage of time, shamanic visions, the existence of "spirits," and from spiritual wonderings to the pursuit and joyful celebration of the blessings of increasing clarity and LIGHT. As with Bill Worrell’s first book "Voices From the Caves - The Shamans Speak" and second book "Journeys Through the Winds of Time", which included a selection of writings from Worrell's journals, his interpretations of ancient pictographic art enthralls art lovers worldwide and captures the attention of archaeologists and theologians as well. Bill is currently working on his third book.
Bill Worrell's artistic style is multi-faceted and descriptive... "The work is not an attempt to document this cave, cliff, and ancient rock art. The intention has been to represent it on canvas, in silver, and in bronze. The original paintings are [contemporary fine art] representations. The bronze sculptures are interpretations [of pictographs] in a three dimensional medium." – Bill Worrell
"I love my art, and I want you to love it also. So - gently - touch it, feel it, view it, and love it." - Bill Worrell.
Worrell's work can be found in private and corporate fine art collections around the world. He has been a featured artist in more than one hundred one-man shows and exhibitions and in numerous two-man and group exhibitions. Worrell’s seventeen-foot monumental bronze sculpture entitled THE MAKER OF PEACE, one of which is owned by the State of Texas, overlooks the ancient Fate Bell rock shelter at Seminole Canyon State Historical Park between Langtry and Comstock, Texas, west of Del Rio.
