A Natural Inspiration

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When looking at an artist’s work it is always interesting to know what the inspiration was. What inspired the artist to make that particular choice or pick that particular subject? William S. Rice (1873-1963) was an artist that was clearly inspired by his surroundings. Rice spent most of his career making work that reflected the beauty of California and the Bay Area in particular.

Rice was offered a job in California in 1900, after completing his degree at the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art and the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia. He spent the next years as the Supervisor of Art in the Stockton Public Schools. In 1910 he moved to the Bay Area, where he began teaching in Alameda and Oakland. Rice’s work at the time already showed a profound California influence. At this time he became very interested in the Arts in Crafts Movement, and began taking extensive classes in the techniques of Japanese woodcuts.

This is where Rice really began drawing inspiration from the California Coast. He gained national recognition for his printmaking, but continued working in ceramics, painting with watercolor and oil, hammered copper, and woodworking. Rice’s love of California fed through his life in more ways than one. He wrote articles on naturalist subjects for Sunset magazine and joined many associations that had connections to California.

Looking through one of Rice’s books, his love for California’s natural landscapes is obvious. Rice spent most of his life in California, studying and examining the landscape. His attention to detail shows his clear study of the landscape on a day-to-day basis. William S. Rice is an artist where the inspiration that he found outside of himself is clear. Rice spent his life drawing inspiration from his surroundings.

When an artist spends a lifetime studying one subject it shows through the detail and understanding of the subject. Today it is more common to find artists drawing inspiration from multiple venues always changing to create something “new.” While this does not make art less meaningful it is refreshing to find work that is so grounded in one thing, never straying from its inspiration. The dedication and admiration that it shows, is almost inspiring.

*Photo Above: Plate 4. San Francisco Bay, 1915 (12 x 9 in). Image Courtesy of http://lotusgreenfotos.blogspot.com