Melbourne, Australia

William (Bill) Ferguson was born in Melbourne in 1932. He studied painting at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and Melbourne Teachers College. During the late 1980’s he was a Senior Lecturer in Painting at RMIT. He currently paints full time.

Between 1962 and 2000, Bill had numerous solo exhibitions across Australia. He also won several art awards over the years including a Blake Prize Commendation (Sydney) in 1993.

His bold canvases are positively influenced by much time spent with the Australian Aboriginals whose art and culture he acknowledges speaks most directly and profoundly of the connection of human spirituality to the Australian landscape.

Bill has been witness to a cross-cultural history, involving the land and the Aboriginal of the central desert, missionaries, and the ‘locals’ of the metropolitan areas for some fifty years. Ferguson’s art has stood fast, somewhere in between. Recent works from the last few years are formed from his experiences with the Australian desert and result in masterful abstractions.

As testament to the quality of his work, he has accepted several notable commissions including murals for Endeavour Oil Company, Woodside Oil Company, ANZ Bank and 24 works for the Casino in Canberra.

His work is extremely popular with collectors and represented in major public galleries across Australia as well as many prestigious corporate and private collections worldwide.