I have tended to live in such a way that I could concentrate and that I could, in a sense, immerse myself in what I was doing.  My accompanying activity was teaching…[It] was a way for me to do something that I really believe in very strongly, which has to do with the participation in the continuity of art, on the ongoing-ness of art.  I felt very much connected, indebted, to the persons who had taught me. When I looked at work of artists, it was as they were alive again, with me.

William Brice,
Brice’s Walkthrough Tour,
William Brice’s Mid-Career Retrospective, MoCA, 1986

William Brice (1921-2008) was a unique and revered voice in art and was influential in the development of art in Southern California. Thus, it is my enormous pleasure to welcome readers to WilliamBrice.org.

I am John Brice, the son of artist William Brice, and the President of the Brice Charitable Foundation. I grew up in Los Angeles immersed in the arts, especially the visual arts.  I entered the California Institute of Art (Cal Arts) as an art major, then changed to Film Studies and graduated with an MFA in Filmmaking.  I worked in Hollywood as a writer, director, and producer before life took me to the UK for nine years where I pursued these interests and was also a university lecturer in screenwriting and directing. 

Now I have returned to Los Angeles and to the visual arts.

I am enthusiastic about our Foundation’s mission, which is to educate the public about the art and life of William Brice and about art in general through museum and gallery exhibitions; loans of artwork; publication of educational materials; sponsorship of seminars, and other activities as may promote these goals. The Foundation’s website, WilliamBrice.org, is a virtual William Brice museum and forms a major part of the Foundation’s overall mission.

Among the Foundation’s central efforts are creating a catalog raisonné of Brice’s works in all media and for the mounting of retrospective exhibitions that circulate to museums nationally and internationally. Many may be aware of one portion of Brice’s long and prolific career but not know other eras.   Or they know his works on one medium but no other. Intriguingly as well, the final 20 years of Brice’s works and evolution remain largely unknown. These last two decades offer fascinating insights into Brice’s remarkable artistic journey over his 73-year career. Our goal is to bring the fullness of William Brice to curators, collectors, and to the public.

I hope you will find the wealth of information on WilliamBrice.org worthwhile, informative, and even entertaining.  Additionally, our Blogs will cover a range of other topic areas about Brice’s fascinating life, aspects of his work, his life as a New Yorker born into the world of the arts, an Angelino and California artist, and a committed UCLA professor.

Blog contributors will be “voices” from the Foundation as well as invited guest bloggers, whose independent explorations of related topics and themes to Brice will contribute to the “the ongoing-ness of art”.

Please stay tuned.

John Brice

President of the Brice Charitable Foundation.