William Cramer was born in Los Angeles, California. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art specialising in sculpture at California State University Northridge in 1972.
Bill moved to England in 1976 and became interested in how creative therapies can provide both a healing and transforming experience for people who have mental health problems. He went on to work in mental health with the NHS as an Art Psychotherapist and Psychodramatist with both adults and children for 35 years. The focus of his work was to enable people to understand and make sense of their inner self through art and drama.
Bill moved to Cornwall in 1995 and reduced his working hours in mental health to return to his passion, making sculpture. As with many artists Cornwall, particularly the North Cornish landscape, filled him with inspiration and, being near the sea, he was reminded of his home in California.
Bill finally retired from the NHS in 2008 and moved to the border of Devon and Cornwall where he designed and built an oak framed sculpture studio.
He has worked in a variety of mediums, namely wood, ceramic and cast stone and in recent years has committed himself to learning about the lost wax process in order to make high quality bronze sculpture.
Bill says for him the human form is the most direct way of expressing a universal human feeling and he loves the versatility of modelling or carving in wax. In each piece he aims to capture a moment in time and the sense of being, or soul.
The original wax model goes through a long process of refinement until he feels it is complete and resolved. The piece is then cast and the final stage of the sculpture is heating the bronze to a high temperature and applying chemical patination until the required colour is achieved.
Bill’s work has been exhibited throughout the Southwest: in the Glass House Gallery and The Lander Galleries, Truro; Falmouth Art Gallery; Camelford Gallery; Broomhill Sculpture Garden, North Devon & Art Garden Gallery, Bristol; and the Harbour Gallery, Portscatho.
