Miranda Kuo Gallery, 2018 (Photo by Parker Calvert)
William Henry Felinski is a multidisciplinary Philadelphia-based American conceptual visual artist believing there should not be walls between systems and fields. He primarily works with sculpture, photography, digital fabrication technologies, and installation. His work is influenced by conceptualism, minimalism, sound art, materials science, appropriation, and deals with perceptions and the physicality of time, mythology, ideas of permanence, systems, and random outcomes. Experimenting with immersive, interactive, participatory new-media projects that pair found objects, electronics, and formal sculpture elements, Felinski's hybrid practice investigates art and form making as a laborer integrating advanced digital and hand-built methods of fabrication to question the porous boundaries and contemporary intersections of art, architecture, design, and technology.
Whitney Museum of American Art, 2016 (Photo by Mike Moyer)
Connector of people and ideas with a speciality in bridging design and art platforms. William Henry Felinski is an artist, industrial designer, arts organizer, researcher, and entrepreneur born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 6th. His family roots are Pennsylvania Dutch and Russian. In 2008, he enrolled in the newly established project-based learning high school, Science Leadership Academy. In 2012, he became a member of the third graduating class. During academic breaks, William's interest in engineering and business led him to complete programs in Materials Science and Entrepreneurship at University of Pennsylvania's Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter and Wharton School. William designed and constructed a rainwater collection, purification, and storage device for his senior capstone project based on the issues he documented while completing environmental sustainability work in the Dominican Republic during 2011. After enrolling at Goucher College in 2012 completing the 3+2 Science and Engineering Program with Columbia University, William took his first sculpture course. Sculpture quickly convinced him to switch his majors to Studio Art and Arts Administration. While at Goucher, William played Division III Varsity Men's Tennis for three years, and concluded his final season with his team winning the 2016 Landmark Conference Men's Tennis Championship. During academic breaks, William completed coursework in sculpture, arts administration, and computational architecture at the University of the Arts, abroad in The Netherlands, and Southern California Institute of Architecture respectively. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2016. In Fall 2017, he started graduate studies in Product Design at the University of the Arts as a MDes candidate under the prestigious Presidential Fellowship. William received his Master of Design degree in 2019 for his thesis, “Design for Biofabrication: Innovative Manufacturing for Product Design”. His thesis culminated with the invention and production of a compostable bicycle helmet made entirely from fungi – MyGrow™ Helmet. Felinski’s research proposes how we might transition manufacturing away from existing methodologies to imaginative processes rooted in biological processes as learned from biomimicry and biotechnology. In May, the University of Pennsylvania’s Pennovation Center accepted MyGrow™ Design into the 2020 Pennovation Accelerator. The 6-week program ran from June to mid-July 2020 during COVID-19 and concluded with each company presenting final pitches to venture capitalists at Pitch Day. William currently is open to remote work and previously has worked as a freelance fabricator, product designer and independent curator. He is continually developing his artistic practice, inventing products, and leading research through three organizations he runs based in Philadelphia where he is Founder (CEO) & Biodesigner at biotechnology company MyGrow™ Design, Founder & Director of the former artist-run project space and curatorial organization Olio Projects now activating alternative sites with art, architecture, and design. Felinski formerly served as Founder (CEO) & Product Designer of consumer lighting and lamp company Will's Lamps, his first startup company, until late 2018 to focus on operating William Henry Felinski Studio. Most recently, William has worked on projects for Fortune 500 companies, such as Nike in one case, and a Big 4 consulting firm holding roles as lead industrial designer and experience as research and development manager during 2021 through 2022. At the moment, Felinski volunteers his expertise as a biodesign consultant helping a team of Philadelphia students execute their project entry for Biodesign Challenge Summit 2023 in New York City at MoMA and Parsons this summer.