k'sblog

Sitting in his office between the confines of bare white walls and silence, Bill Shipley looked up from his desk. He took a moment to pause. There was no telling what he was thinking. Perhaps it was a momentary day dream about an open field and massive kites. While not an uncommon day dream, something about Shipley having it sets it apart from everyone else. Massive kites and an open field were once a reality for Shipley. A reality that he built his career upon.

This past week, Shipley could have been found editing and proof reading the new Tweed Museum brochures. He might have been found finishing up his desk work to conduct one of many tours through the Tweed Museum’s Pearlstein Exhibit. It’s also very likely that he was working on an outline for a talk that he will be giving for Earth Day.

Shipley can be found doing all of these things at UMD in the Tweed Museum.

“It’s interesting how we go in circles in life,� said Shipley. “We end up where we started.�

Shipley attended UMD from 1960 to 1966. He majored in studio art with an art history minor. Shipley’s reason for attending college was not only education.

"In those days they had something called the draft,� said Shipley. “Not that I didn’t learn anything, because I did.�

At UMD Shipley majored in studio art with a minor in art history.

Shipley received his Master of Arts degree at the University of Iowa. Iowa is where he formulated his idea for building kites.

“I had a studio in the country in a wide open field,� said Shipley. “I asked myself what can I do here?�

After building huge kites Shipley became known as the Kite Man. Seventy-five of the kites ended up in a N.Y.C art gallery. A headmaster from Trinity, a private school in New York, liked the idea of the kites.

“I was hired because of the kites,� said Shipley. “I taught kids to build and fly kites.�

While at Trinity Shipley taught woodworking, art history, and he filled in wherever he was needed. This could be instructing anywhere from first grade to seniors in high school.

“That’s what keeps me flexible here (at the Tweed),� said Shipley.

For seven years Shipley was the head of Trinity’s department of visual arts. During those years he rebuilt the art curriculum.

Many of Shipley’s students when on to study art. That’s unusual for the school that produces many doctors and lawyers.

“You never know as a teacher the impact you have,� said Shipley.

A former student of Shipley’s said that he was inspired to be an architect after a woodworking project done in fourth grade.

Shipley did not stop making an impact at Trinity. Shipley currently leads school groups from the age of first grade through adulthood. Also, Shipley was the first openly gay teacher at Trinity school. He gives school groups talks about that experience.

When it came time for Shipley to retire from Trinity School, Duluth, Minnesota was not the first location that came to mind.

“Florida was my retirement dream,� said Shipley.

In 2000 Shipley retired and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He opened Bill Shipley Fine Arts, a gallery. Not having a business background, Shipley spent and lost a lot of money on the gallery, which he calls “idealistic.�

A curator at the Tweed saw Shipley’s kites and other work. The curator liked it and asked him to become part of the education staff at the Tweed.

Shipley is eager to help students at UMD. At the most recent student art exhibition, Shipley’s face lit up as he offered students advisement in their art.

“Being at the Tweed, students know where to find me,� said Shipley.

Inside the Tweed museum and up one flight of stairs, away from the sometimes chaotic Kirby plaza, is the office of Bill Shipley. He will greet you with a smile and a hand shake. He’s open for guidance, advisement, and even a chat about what things were like when he went to school here. The metaphorical wind that carried the largest work of Shipley’s art, kites, geographically brought him right back to where he started.

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