Bill's profile
Bill Shimek was born in Baltimore in 1947, and had been a lawyer for five years when he started painting. In the 1970’s and ’80’s he lived in Nashville, Tennessee, where as a self-taught artist he had some success in galleries and museums, including association with a gallery that sold almost everything he produced during a three-year period.
That period ended in 1985 when he returned to Maryland, faced with the opportunity to buy a dormant water-powered historic gristmill in an idyllic setting on Deer Creek, near Darlington, Maryland. He then spent nine years doing almost nothing but working as a self-taught carpenter, mason, roof slater, plasterer, and almost everything else, to restore this mill with little outside help. The mill left a nine-year void in his art life, which he sometimes regrets. In the home and studio he established in Noble’s Mill, his work then resumed its evolution in canvas paintings and wood construction. Shimek’s constructions have ranged from totems to shadowboxes to lively free-standing diners and buses and taxis and restaurants, including a quasi-life-size drugstore with soda fountain, and a “life-size” vintage movie theatre. His canvases range from exhilarating color to moody monochrome, and include touching portraits and atmospheric landscapes.
Shimek has seen phases where his work has sold feverishly, and periods of scant commercial success. Through it all he has remained prolific; when he is about to finish one piece, he is already planning the next. His work has been shown by the American Visionary Art Museum.
A fairly comprehensive catalog (including description of materials and dimensions of works shown on this site, as well as additional views of 3-dimensional pieces) can be seen at http://billshimek.com/.
That period ended in 1985 when he returned to Maryland, faced with the opportunity to buy a dormant water-powered historic gristmill in an idyllic setting on Deer Creek, near Darlington, Maryland. He then spent nine years doing almost nothing but working as a self-taught carpenter, mason, roof slater, plasterer, and almost everything else, to restore this mill with little outside help. The mill left a nine-year void in his art life, which he sometimes regrets. In the home and studio he established in Noble’s Mill, his work then resumed its evolution in canvas paintings and wood construction. Shimek’s constructions have ranged from totems to shadowboxes to lively free-standing diners and buses and taxis and restaurants, including a quasi-life-size drugstore with soda fountain, and a “life-size” vintage movie theatre. His canvases range from exhilarating color to moody monochrome, and include touching portraits and atmospheric landscapes.
Shimek has seen phases where his work has sold feverishly, and periods of scant commercial success. Through it all he has remained prolific; when he is about to finish one piece, he is already planning the next. His work has been shown by the American Visionary Art Museum.
A fairly comprehensive catalog (including description of materials and dimensions of works shown on this site, as well as additional views of 3-dimensional pieces) can be seen at http://billshimek.com/.
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