William Lindemann Biography

When I was very young our family lived for a year in the three room basement of a house under construction, without its upper story and with a flat tar paper roof. When it rained or snowed pots and pails caught dripping water leaking from above. Walking was precarious - there were no straight paths. A ladder extended to the would be second floor. The bathroom and makeshift dine-in kitchen were windowless. Heat came from a corner fireplace. The childish charm of those early years never left me. It never felt hardscrabble. It seemed like an adventure.

In my school age years, I had evident difficulty with hand writing the alphabet, reading, even more so with written numbers and an unfathomable confusion with musical nomenclature. I got all the negative labeling and bullying conceivable. I found myself rereading/rewriting words, sentences and paragraphs numerous times. i became defensive and reclusive. My attention span drifted into elaborate daydreams. My grades were deplorable. I was branded lazy about everything. I struggled so hard to please but the anxiety caused by perceived inadequacy made the conditions worse.

I had a good memory for spoken concepts (not for names), and excelled in q&a class participation. I loved to draw. I drew very accurate maps. Drawing, particularly from intuition, was dissuaded at home as a useless endeavor. I was urged to copy mechanical and structural engineering perspectives without the knowledge or drafting tools needed. I didn’t have the patience or presence of mind for that. If I was told not to do anything a certain way I'd become so anxious about avoiding it that invariably I would end up doing it the wrong way anyhow.

My first attempt at college ended miserably, however I discovered ART. A friend mentored me in raku ceramics. I found I could learn easily through observing and repeating his actions. My friend told me he went to school to learn art. A light went on, which shone on a whole new world of skills. In my next attempt at college, I enrolled in a class using various methodologies for study based on different learning styles. I was told by a professor, though not diagnosed, that I had learning disabilities. I never was properly diagnosed. In retrospect, all the trials of my youth made some sense.

Education

The University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1973 through 1978, graduating with a BA in Studio Arts and concentrations in mixed media sculpture and drawing.

The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1979 through 1981, graduating with a MA in Studio Arts and concentrations in mixed media sculpture and drawing.

Galleries

Surfaces (2025)

Surfaces, 309 West Front Street, Suite A, Traverse City, MI 49684, and West End Lofts

https://www.instagram.com/surfaces_traverse_city https://www.facebook.com/p/Surfaces-Art-Supplies https://www.surfacesartsupplies.com (see Contacts)

Saatchi Art (2026)

https://www.saatchiart.com/account/profile/2929663

Exhibitions

1978 Undergraduate Final Project Exhibit, bold colorful polychromatic freestanding woven wire mesh structures, Department of Art, School of Education, University of Wisconsin,

1978 Wisconsin Biennial Exhibition, Outdoor Sculpture, Madison Art Center, Madison, Wisconsin

1978 'Clay As Art', Invitational Exhibit, Performing and Fine Arts Building Gallery, School of Art and Design, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ

1981 MA Thesis Exhibit, wall mounted and freestanding painted wood, metal, glass, paper, cord structural elements of exploration: ship's compass, dog sleds, map case, flat and rolled hand-made maps, The University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM

1983-1986 Sales and Rental Gallery, paintings, prints and drawings, Madison Art Center (aka Madison Museum of Contemporary Art), Madison, WI

1986 RAYOVAC Corporation, Corporate Headquarters Collection Exhibit, Madison, WI (two purchases for permanent collection)

1986-1988 LaBrea Interiors, bold polychromatic metal pedestal cafe tables in window displays, La Brea Interiors Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1988-2018, Sierra Artists' Network (aka North Tahoe Arts), various group exhibits, Tahoe City, CA

2004 Stony Ridge Cafe, solo exhibit: 'Drawing in the Nature of Things', Tahoma, CA

2023 Crooked Tree Arts Center, Members' Guild Salon Show, CTAC Traverse City, MI

2024 Crooked Tree Arts Center, Members' Guild Salon Show, CTAC Traverse City, MI

2024 Glen Arbor Art Center, Members' Show, Glen Arbor Art Center, Glen Arbor, MI

2024 Crooked Tree Arts Center, 'Fields of Vision' juried exhibition, CTAC Petoskey, MI

2025 Crooked Tree Arts Center, Members' Guild Salon Show, CTAC Petoskey, MI

2025 Crooked Tree Arts Center, 10 Fold juried exhibition, CTAC Traverse City, MI

2025 Crooked Tree Arts Center, Wooden and Earthen juried exhibition, CTAC Traverse City, MI

2025 Crooked Tree Arts Center, Solo: Memory and Transition, William Lindemann: Recent Work, October/November 2025, CTAC Traverse City

2026 Crooked Tree Arts Center, Between Us, juried exhibition, CTAC Traverse City, MI

2026 Crooked Tree Arts Center, Art Guild Salon exhibition, CTAC Traverse City, MI

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