About the Artist
William Lurcott Bio
Living life as grandly as we possibly can is an art. We are always creating. Putting together, assembling, collecting and imagining as we go through this journey. It is a path that each of us ultimately takes alone--yet simultaneously with billions of others. We live and interact with an infinite amount of external input, yet it is the internal conversations that we have with ourselves that most influence how we are and who we are in the world. Through the stories we tell ourselves, and share with others, we reveal more about us than anything else. For many years, the story of how I see was locked up, hidden, sequestered inside. Ignored and basically suppressed in my adolescence, it took decades for me to realize that I was actually being gifted with an abundance of hurdles to expand and grow myself. What a wonderful journey it has been so far, and I am literally exhilarated to imagine what's next.
Born in Washington, DC, William was less than a year old when he was transported (via a bassinet rather than a box) to Jacksonville, Florida for his first 6 years. His father was in the Navy, and William moved around for 10 years after that until the family moved back to Florida.
Learning new things always excited him and he left college to live a more adventurous life upon the sea. After apprenticing under an able craftsman, he repaired both old wooden and modern fiberglass boats. He decided he would rather sail more and do less labor, so he eventually obtained his Coast Guard Master's License.
William sailed up and down the Atlantic coast from South America to Canada, delivered derelict scows and fine yachts, became a celestial navigator, and pursued the dreams du jour. He was a charter captain of a 60 foot schooner and a 52 foot ketch, but really preferred living at various anchorages on his own boat. Captain Lurcott sailed and lived aboard a series of boats: from an old Chinese Junk to a small racing sloop to a 30 foot ketch and finally a 33 foot sloop. During these fourteen years, he was fortunate enough to sail and live in the Bahamas on his own boat for 6 years. While there, he found the time to begin to learn about watercolors and basic painting. Lurcott also loves to fly airplanes. Flying has the same basic bones and laws as sailing; and he has owned 3 airplanes over a period of 4 decades.
It wasn’t until the early nineties that William sold his first few pieces of art. He painted mostly in acrylics and watercolors back then, but pastels and oils have overtaken his preferred choices of medium. The kinesthetic handling of pastel, from the support (sanded papers, gessoed boards, and prepared grounds on various surfaces), to the application and textural components of the sticks themselves, provide for a tactile experience unequaled with any other medium. Lurcott says that just the handling of them alone has provided for a whole universe of exploration.
Lurcott has participated in national, juried, art shows for over a decade, showing his work in New York, Chicago, Colorado, Atlanta, Houston, Jackson Hole, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and a bunch of other places . These shows featured great artists from around the country, and simply walking through each show was like a trip to a museum featuring rising stars. The shows and events displayed only the highest quality work selected from many hundreds—and oftentimes thousands, of entries.
