IslANDs - Painterly Experiments & Exploded Sculptures

Bill FitzGibbons received his BFA in Sculpture and Art History from the University of Tennessee, and his MFA in Sculpture and Multi-Media from Washington
University in St. Louis. Bill has received over thirty public art commissions in five countries. In 1979 he became the first curator at Laumeier Sculpture Park in
St. Louis, Missouri. From 1985 until 1988 he was appointed as the Director of Sculpture at the Visual Art Center in Anchorage, Alaska. In 1988 he became the
Department Head of Sculpture at the San Antonio Art Institute. In 1991 he was selected as a Fulbright Scholar for the Hungarian Art Academy in Budapest,
Hungary. Bill has also been on the adjunct faculty at Trinity University in San Antonio. FitzGibbons is the former Executive Director of Blue Star Contemporary
Art Museum 2002-2013 and in 2012, was selected by the Texas State Legislature as The Texas State Artist (sculpture).
Dr. Doina Uricariu is an acclaimed poet and the director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York. She has published nine volumes of poetry, four of
prose, three of criticism and esthetics since 1976, and an anthology of the entire oeuvre until 1998. Her volumes of poetry and prose received numerous
prestigious awards in Romania and abroad, have been translated and published in twenty one languages, including the volume Das Hertzinstitut in German,
launched recently at the Frankfurt International Book Fair. Mrs. Uricariu published numerous studies of literary criticism, and Nichita Stanescu: Paradoxical
Lyricism, Apocrypha about Emil Botta, Ecorches, critical studies about Emil Botta, Dominic Stanca, and Jeni Acterian. She is founding president of the publishing
consortium Du Style/Universalia Group since 1990. Dr. Uricariu’s cultural contributions earned her the titles of Knight of the Romanian Republic and Knight of
the Royal House of Romania. Currently, she is preparing a first volume of new poetry in English, scheduled for winter 2015.
Dr. K.K. Chakravarty (M.P.A. in Public Administration and Ph. D. in Fine Arts, Harvard) is the Chairman of Lalit Kala-the National Academy of Art. He is a
distinguished scholar in the field of Education, Cultural Studies, Heritage and Museum Administration, Art and Archeology, and has held charges of Managing
Director, Text Book Corporation, Chairman, Board of Secondary Education, Chairman, Professional Entrance Examination Board, Director, Public Instruction in
the Government of Madhya Pradesh, and Additional Chief Secretary for University, School, Technical Education and Science and Technology in the Government
of Chhattisgarh. He developed programmes for building bridges between education and culture, in the capacity of Commissioner, Archaeology, Museums,
Tourism and Culture, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, at Bhopal, Director, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (National Museum of Man), Bhopal, Director
General, National Museum, Delhi and Member Secretary, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Kala Kendra (National Centre for Arts), Delhi in the Ministries of Human
Resource Development, Tourism and Culture, Government of India. Apart from being Chancellor NUEPA, he is Chairman, National Screening and Evaluation Committee,
Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, for exhibitions sent abroad, Vice Chairman of the Delhi Institute of Heritage Research and Management and Advisor Art, Culture and
Language, Govt. of Delhi. He is also Chairman, Bhasha Trust at Vadodara, Member, Governing Boards of several central and state universities and Advisor to several state
governments and national cultural institutions. He is a member of the International Advisory Board, the Continuum Advances in Semiotics Series, London and New York.
Has been member of the Editorial Boards, Journal of the Australian Rock Art Research Association, and UNESCO Journal on Intangible Heritage, Seoul. Extensively published
on Art and Architecture, Rock Art, Anthropology, Archaeology, Museology, Conservation, Education and Indology with a focus on issues of marginalization and bio cultural
survival of communities. Has organized and participated in International Conferences and Exhibitions in these areas and has led a movement on national and international
platforms for regeneration of community habitats, knowledge systems, heritage, arts and re invention of colonial cognitive categories. Recent volumes edited or co edited
by him on issues of Indigeneity and Survival of Indigenous Languages and Cultures have been published by Orient Blackswan, and Routledge.
Photo Credit: Doina Uricariu’s Photo Portrait: Deniz SAYLAN, Photographer, London/Stuttgart
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