William Atkinson, Storm & Shelter, Installation view, November 2021.
LIVES AND WORKS IN DALLAS, TX.
WILLIAM ATKINSON started his professional career as a police officer in the city of Gunnison, CO. This afforded him opportunities for community engagement and education. In this capacity, Atkinson was afforded the privilege of training and focused on areas of drug education, alcohol education, resident advisor training and orientation, the community police academy, and guest teaching for a college level sociology class. In 2007, Atkinson was recruited from the police department to be a lead instructor for a program of record with the United States Military and personally taught over 10,000 personnel.
After his work with the military was completed, Atkinson took the opportunity to work in the arts. He founded and operated a gallery and artist incubator in Los Angeles. This led to his becoming the operations director for two internationally renowned galleries in New York. Woven into his daily practice was education and mentorship – for artists, staff, clients – from topics ranging from the marketplace to emerging art forms.
In 2017, Atkinson returned home to Dallas and after reflecting on his career, he decided to return to his greatest joy – teaching. In pursuit of this goal, he re- enrolled at Southern Methodist University and earned his master’s degree in May of 2021. In the spring of 2021, he was hired by St. Mark’s School of Texas and has joined the faculty as a full-time 6th grade Humanities teacher.
He has shown his work throughout the U.S. and in Europe.
Artist’s CV >>>