About

Willa Briggs

My Life In Art

Thank you, Judy Collins.  This website exists because you asked for it.
Your beautiful music sustains me.

How does an artist carve out a career? 

This website follows my art journey.  After graduating from Moore College Of Art in Philadelphia, I moved with my family to San Jose, California in 1970.  My first drawings were called the Glass Eyed People.  In a succession of many garage studios, I screenprinted editions of my drawings on my hand-built equipment. My first prints were  the Tea Drinkers. I sold them directly to the public at craft fairs. The money made me self-sufficient.  I was an entrepreneur with a minimal income lifestyle.   Art, clearly, is not about the money.

My most valuable lesson comes from connecting with the person my picture touches.  That’s an indelible experience.   If you've bought my work over the years, please know how you have empowered me.

I learned how to print plate lithography at West Valley College on a press housed in their janitor's closet.  After getting my MFA at San Jose State University,  I got my first college teaching job at West Valley in my 40s.

Where does inspiration come from?

Inspiration comes from what you love.  I love drawing from my imagination and from life. My belief and imagination are richly colored by my early childhood in Rio de Janeiro.  I was born on the equator in Quito, Ecuador.  I think of peoples and cultural perspectives like a galactic experience of entering a new world.

I moved to Humboldt County in 2000 to become a teacher for College of the Redwoods Hoopa Campus. Most of my students were Native American. I love them dearly.  

In Humboldt, I began making drawings and paintings based on the life of dairy cows, the egrets, and the local horses.  Piante Gallery in Eureka carried my work and helped me grow from the experience of showing with them. 

Are you still making art?

Absolutely.  The end game of a creative way of life is an expanding treasure chest.  I am involved in monotype/collage imagery.  Examples of my current work are in the first album on the home page of this website.

For believing and supporting my work, special thanks to:

Sue Natzler (Piante Gallery),  Christine Laffer,  Nanette Wylde (PreNeo Press)

Dean Ujihara (website),  Rich Strauss

Some of my works from all periods of my art life are available for sale.  Contact information is available on the home page of this website.

RESUME

Willa  Briggs                                                                   e-mail – willa.artist@gmail.com

General Information                                Education:       1970 BFA Moore College of Art, Philadelphia

                                                                                    1994 MFA San Jose State University

One-Person Shows

         2017     Piante Gallery, “Of the Heart”  Eureka, CA

         2015     Piante Gallery, “Sonnets”  Eureka, CA

         2011     Piante Gallery, “Skyway”  Eureka, CA

         2009     Piante Gallery,” White Foals”  Eureka, CA

  2007        Piante Gallery, ,”Wet Weather”   Eureka, CA 

  2006     Ink People Center for the Arts, Eureka,CA

  2005     Piante Gallery, ,”Fields of Cream”   Eureka, CA

  2003         Piante Gallery, ,” Ferndale Cows”   Eureka, CA

         1994      San Jose State University, , San Jose, CA, MFA Exhibition

         1992      Citadel Gallery, San Jose, CA

         1990      Humboldt State University - Library ,  Arcata, CA

         1989      Hartridge House, Eureka, CA

         1983      Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, CA

         1982      Villa Montalvo, Los Gatos, CA

         1980      Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, CA

                     Touchstone Gallery, San Francisco, CA

 1979          Gallery 500, Philadelphia, PA                 

Group Shows

        2019     Piante Gallery, “Flowers”  Eureka, CA        

        2018     College of the Redwoods     Faculty  Exhibition

Piante Gallery, “Duets”,  Eureka, CA

        2017     Triton Museum of Art, The Ray Ashley Collection

        2014     Piante Gallery, “The Horse”,  Eureka, CA

        2003     Humboldt’s Finest, Representational Art League, Eureka Ca,

 2002     First Street Gallery, HSU Faculty Show,    “Ferndale Cows”, Eureka, CA

 1999     Computer Curriculum Corporation,         Santa Clara, CA

             West Valley College, Saratoga, CA,     “Faculty Art Exhibition,”

  Santa Cruz Arts Council,    “Hearts For the Arts” Santa Cruz, CA

  Galerie Tonantzin,     Artist’s Self Portraits, San Juan Bautista, CA

 1998      Institute of Contemporary Art,     “Women Looking at Men”, San Jose, CA

                     Somar Gallery,     Women’s Caucus for Art Regional, San Francisco, CA

                     San Jose City College,    “Women’s Work”

        1997       Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose,    “Monotype  Marathon”   

                     Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA    “Olympiad for the Arts”

        1996       Center for Performing Arts, Mountain View.    “CSMA Faculty  Show” 

        1994       Works Gallery, San Jose, CA,    “Invitational”

        1993       America House, Stuttgart, Germany,    “Five Artists from California”  

 1990            Humboldt Cultural Center, Eureka, CA    “12th Annual Women’s Show”,

        1989       Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA    “Work from Lifelines”  

                     Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA   “Biennial Drawing & Printmaking Competition”

        1988       San Jose Art League, San Jose, CA   “Artists' Vision: World Without War"

                     Auckland Society of Arts Gallery, New Zealand,    “Print Exchange Exhibition”

        1987       Belgium and Pakistan,    “San Jose Art League Traveling Print  Exhibition”

        1986       Royal Festival Hall, London,    “Printmakers Council Annual Exhibition”

        1984       New College, San Francisco,    “Screenprinters: 4 Views”

        1981       Capricorn Asunder Gallery, San Francisco, CA    “Women’s Caucus for Art”   

        1980       Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia, ”International Exhibit of Prints & Drawings"

        1979       Thumb Gallery, London, UK

                      Crocker-Kingsley, Sacramento, CA   

                      Crown Zellerbach, San Francisco, CA

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