About the Exhibit

We are excited to announce an all-new exhibition featuring the works of renowned artist and educator Brent Guy Wilson, an collection of autobiographical artist-books and folios organized by each of the ten decades in which the artist has lived.

Brent Wilson grew up in Fairview, Idaho, and his artistic path began in high school, where he met influential professors from USU. He enrolled in 1948, graduating with honors and later earning his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Over the years, he taught art education at prestigious institutions, including the University of Iowa and Penn State, while continually creating and exhibiting his artwork.

The exhibition is now open and will run until November 17, 2024. It presents a unique perspective on Wilson’s artistic journey, beginning with speculative folios about his parents before his birth and continuing through each decade of his life, from the 1930s to the 2020s. Each folio reflects his personal experiences and cultural influences, constantly contemplating the question of choice — the ones we make and the ones that are made for us — and how they shape the outcome of our lives.

About Brent Wilson

Brent Guy Wilson grew up on a farm in Fairview Idaho, just one mile north of Lewiston Utah. While in high school he met Utah State University art professors who had come to Preston High School to judge art contests. These contacts were just one of the reasons he entered USU in 1948; the Art Department was the most progressive in Utah. Upon graduation in 1952 he received the Cardon Art Award given to the outstanding art student and an exhibition of paintings was mounted in Old Main. He received his MFA degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1958 and taught in the Salt Lake City Schools where he was appointed the Art Supervisor in 1959. In 1966 he received a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University and accepted an associate professorship at the University of Iowa. He was head of the Art Education program in Iowa until, in 1974, he accepted a professorship at the Pennsylvania State University. He taught and led the art education program at Penn State for 30 years, conducted research, and evaluated arts programs while continuing to make and exhibit his artworks.

In the late 1970s, in his sketchbooks, Wilson began writing notes under drawings and, by accident, became a journal-keeper. On a 1978 sabbatical in Egypt, he started making drawings and writing poems about his childhood. In the 1990s his sketches and writing became the basis for autobiographical artist-books and folios—first about his childhood, then about the artworks and books that inspired his own art during each of the ten decades in which he lived.

Wilson conducted research relating to cultural influences on children’s drawings, cross-cultural differences in children’s story drawings, Japanese and Chinese teenagers’ doujinshi/manga publications and comic markets, and analyzed the language used to describe and evaluate artworks. While he engaged in projects such as drafting “Toward Civilization” for the National Endowment for the Arts, evaluated arts programs for the Getty Trust, mentored doctoral students, and served as a visiting professor in Asian and American universities, Wilson continued to work as an artist. His paintings, sculpture, artist-books and folios have been exhibited in the United States, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

To learn more about Brent's artwork, visit his website.