William Underhill

William (Bill) Underhill was an American sculptor whose body of work focused on sculptural vessels created from bronze using the lost-wax process. With roots deep in the cultural soil of California of the 1950s, Underhill studied with legendary ceramic artist Peter Voulkos and developed a close, inspiring friendship with renowned ceramic artist Stephen De Staebler. He worked with celebrated architect Buckminster Fuller at the University of California at Berkeley, School of Architecture, where he also studied with designer Charles Eames.

Underhill was much inspired by Fuller’s geodesic dome and led a student design team to construct a geodesic dome as a bird sanctuary for the Oakland California Park Department. The dome was the first of its kind to be built on the West Coast. Underhill was studying and working with Voulkos when he made his first cast, bronze sculpture. At that time, Underhill began to turn clay work into bronze vessels, eventually establishing a unique path for himself as an artist.

William Underhill’s work is held in numerous collections including the Carnegie Institute Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Oakland Art Museum, California; the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; the Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin; the Cooper–Hewitt Museum, New York; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California. Underhill’s King Alfred bronze figure is sited at the central campus of Alfred University, Alfred (NY). Underhill taught at Alfred University from 1969 until his retirement in 1997.