About Artist William Cochran

William Cochran creates landmark public artworks in paint, glass, masonry, steel, stone and light. These projects often engage the community in the creative process. They explore local history and the meaning of place in ways that illuminate common ground.

The artworks are carefully integrated into their social and architectural environments, yet they retain a strong sense of the human hand.

William and his partner and wife Teresa work as close-knit team with a wide range of government, private, community-based and non-profit organizations to develop and implement these projects. This work often involves master planning and visioning processes for public art and placemaking.

A recent art history textbook has identified William Cochran as a significant figure in contemporary public art in North America in its Timeline of Artists and Art (Responding to Art, Robert Bersson, McGraw-Hill, 2003). His work in glass was selected for an international exhibit of architectural art glass at the University of Mexico in 2007. He won the Award for Excellence from the National Glass Association and the Project of the Year Award from the American Public Works Association. He and his partner, Teresa, won the Core Values Award from the International Association of Public Participation.

His public artworks in Frederick, Maryland, helped that city win the Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2005. His work Kardia at the Regional Arts Commission in St. Louis is part of the Delmar Boulevard revitalization effort, which won a “10 Great Streets in America” designation by The American Planning Association.

Cochran is currently developing permanent glass sculptures for public parks in Baltimore and the D.C. area, a large memorial mural for a museum in Pennsylvania, and a civil rights mural for the city center of Rockville, Maryland. In Rochester, New York, William and Teresa are public art facilitators and design team artists working as sub-consultants to Bergmann Associates. They are helping to facilitate public art processes and participatory components for an urban art trail that connects museums and other cultural institutions and engages the public in a broad public participation process. They are working in with numerous stakeholder organizations. Previously, William was the artist on the design team for the conceptual master plan for the grounds of the University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery.

The Cochran's well-known Community Bridge mural project transformed a plain concrete bridge in Frederick, Maryland, into a successful catalyst for revitalization and renewal. The meaning and message of the artwork was shaped by creative ideas from thousands of community members and participants around the world. It draws thousands of visitors annually and is the focus of ongoing educational tours. It helped leverage public and private development around it and appears in educational materials for schools.

He is a popular inspirational and educational speaker at universities and museums and has spoken at national and international educational and art conferences. After the first National Conference of Dialogue and Deliberation in Alexandria, Virginia, conference director Sandy Heierbacher said,

“Cochran’s keynote presentation about the awe-inspiring Community Bridge project had everyone spellbound. The moving, extraordinary story of the bridge helped us to see the possibilities for our work in a new light.”

Other Voices

"The incredible depth of William Cochran’s public art initiatives is matched by the stunning imagery and flawless technique with which they are executed."
– Jerene Weitman, Director of Public Programs, Heckscher Museum of Art

"The masterful artwork of William Cochran and his associates provides an appreciative, strength based process that has led to remarkable results for communities . . . his work provides a vital link to the coevolutionary search for the best in people, their communities, and the world around them."
– Deborah S. Eibner, Dartmouth College

"A clear demonstration of public art at its best: the highest quality of art and a community completely engaged."
– Cindy Kelly, public art administrator

"William Cochran is the leader in the use of murals for public engagement and economic and community development. His technical and artistic talents are unsurpassed and developed beyond any contemporary artist."
– Jack Becker, Publisher, Public Art Review

"Anamorphic paintings are exceedingly rare in art history. Archangel from Community Bridge struck me so profoundly that I would have to consider this as ranking in the top two examples of anamorphic perspective in art history, with Hans Holbein’s sixteenth century painting The Ambassadors being the other."
– Michael J. Ruiz, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Physics,
University of North Carolina

"We marvel at William Cochran’s magical, almost godlike power to transform a blank concrete surface into a full bodied angel who looks at us and emerges into our world."
– Robert Bersson, Responding to Art,
college textbook published by McGraw Hill, 2004

"Community Bridge represents everything that is valuable in a public art project. It is brilliantly coneived and artfully produced . . . one of the most outstanding public art projects of recent years."
-- Jeffrey York, Director of Public Art, North Carolina Arts Council