William Hosie's constructions form a body of work he began developing in 1985, informed by construction sites and abandoned buildings and piers in New York City, as well as the processes of nature in the deep woods and forests of Massachusetts. Hosie's small structures, 100 or so, all of similar scale and materials, are a 'family' of interrelating objects, some with interchangeable parts. Grouped together, their conceptual relationships come into focus. They are made of humble materials - cardboard, wood, Styrofoam, plaster, and glue - and they appear variously musical, architectural, utilitarian and toy-like. The University Museum of Contemporary Art will be exhibiting Hosie's constructions from November 3 through December 14. An opening reception will be held in the Gallery on Friday, November 2 from 5 to 7 p.m., and the artist will be present. As an art student at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1970s, Hosie gravitated to the architecture department, which was enlivened by the ideas of faculty members Frank Gehry, Michael Graves and Robert Venturi. This charged atmosphere gave Hosie license to think of his sculpture in vastly different terms, so that what gradually took on importance was not the finished isolated object but rather the process of form-finding to insinuate a "life in time" in the work. Making models for architects needing solutions for difficult details gave him the scale and medium. Hosie began to use found materials from construction dumpsters in New York City to work through his ideas. What was important was to make sculpture that didn't stagnate as 'finished' work, but rather embodied the notion of time and mutability. They were built, half-built, unbuilt, and rebuilt -- transforming to other related structures in the process. While working on his sculptural constructions, Hosie also began major restorations to his Victorian home in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, an activity that soon extended outside to his gardens. The family of small structures now resides in and entirely fills the floor of his living room, enlivening his home with their playful and ever-changing presence.

A related series of two-dimensional works made between 1981 and 1983 anticipate the three-dimensional constructions. These wall pieces came about through the artist's interest in 'Notan', a Japanese term meaning light/dark or the principle of interaction between positive and negative space, like the sign for I Chi or yin/yang. Organized as a semiographic storyboard, reminiscent of those used in animation, they sequentially disclose imagery moving back and forth in time.

William Hosie lives and works in New York City and in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts with his wife, the artist Christin Couture. He received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. (1976, 1978 respectively) from the University of Pennsylvania. He has been making sculpture for over thirty years and his work is in numerous private collections. Hosie has been a collector of Early American antiques for many years.

William Hosie is supported in part by funds from the UMass Arts Council.

The University Museum of Contemporary Art , located on the lower level of the Fine Arts Center, is open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. The Gallery is also open to audiences for evening performances held in the Concert Hall of the Fine Arts Center. For further information, please call (413) 545-3670 or visit the Gallery's web site at www.umass.edu/fac/universitygallery.