Statement
William Plummer is an artist and writer based in Kansas City, Missouri. They hold a BFA in Fiber and Art History from the Kansas City Art Institute. In 2021, they participated in the Elsewhere residency program as a Kansas City Exchange Fellow. From 2018 to 2020, they collaborated with three other planaria-inspired artists and scientists on the exhibition Body of Inquiry: the Art, Biology, and Being of Flatworms. Plummer’s work is informed by their cross-cultural heritage and queer experience, often exploring themes of projection, translation, and transformation.
Currently working in cyanotype, I create prints using clear film, textiles, drawings, found materials, and my body. I consider each cyanotype a recording, both capturing and obscuring the physical world. Whether it is by drawing, weaving, or writing, I think through granular processes. The through line is an element of translation: translating an image to textile, translating light to paper, or even putting words on a page. I draw inspiration from the coastline paradox, the observation that the more accurately one tries to measure a coastline, the more one zooms in on it, the longer it becomes. I emulate transformations in scale through process, fascinated by singular units that become a cohesive whole.
Bibliography:
- Reality Club Listens Interview (April 2020)
- KKFI Artspeak Radio Interview (January 2020)
- Eyelash-Size, Self-Cloning Animals Inspire A New Show By Kansas City Artists And Scientists (January 2020)
- On the Other Side: Reflections on William Plummer’s Passages to my Ā pó: Transplanted Joss (June 2019)
- 6/6 (m) or 20/20 (ft) Vision: A Conversation with William Plummer (June 2018)
Curriculum vitae —
Education:
2018 BFA, Fiber and Art History Double Major, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri
Exhibitions:
2023
Words and Silences,
Plug Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
Can I Take A Message?
Plug Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
2021
Kansas City Flatfile & Digitalfile, H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City, Missouri
Re/collections, H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City, Missouri
2020
Art In the Loop (Planaria Passages),
Metro Northbound Stop, Kansas City, Missouri
Body of Inquiry: The Art, Biology, and Being of Flatworms,
UMKC Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
2019
Now/Here,
H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City, Missouri
Melt,
La Esquina, Kansas City, Missouri
2018
Just In,
The Drugstore, Kansas City, Missouri
Along the Transverse Axis,
The Drugstore, Kansas City, Missouri (solo)
Annual BFA Exhibition,
H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City, Missouri
All Together, Now,
Imagine That, Kansas City, Missouri
Input/Output,
Fiber Warehouse, Kansas City, Missouri
Turning Point,
Fiber Warehouse, Kansas City, Missouri
Performative Loom: Sound, Rhythm and Experimental Making,
KCAI Crossroads Gallery:Center for Contemporary Practice, Kansas City, Missouri
For the Record,
Fiber Warehouse, Kansas City, Missouri
First Cut with Bryan Czibesz,
KCAI Crossroads Gallery: Center for Contemporary Practice, Kansas City, Missouri
2016
Winter Work: 2016 End of Semester Exhibition and Sale,
Fiber Warehouse, Kansas City, Missouri
Wavering Boundary,
Qin JiGang Gallery, SanMin Arts Village, GuangXi, China
Leaping Forward,
Fiber Warehouse, Kansas City, Missouri
2015
Material Practice,
Fiber Warehouse, Kansas City, Missouri
Fiber End of Semester Show,
Fiber Warehouse, Kansas City, Missouri
CONTACT INFORMATION
Instagram: @poillywoig
Email: poillywoig@gmail.com
Email: poillywoig@gmail.com