Bill Farrell Memorial Scholarship Fund

Available for Youth Ceramics Students

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In honor of Bill's lifelong commitment to education, commemorative gifts to the Bill Farrell Memorial Scholarship Fund will help relieve the financial burden for youth interested in Galena ARC pottery classes.

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Bill Farrell

Bill Farrell had a rich and varied history as an artist, educator, lecturer, and kiln builder. After nearly four decades of teaching, he retired to Galena, IL where he built a wood kiln and delved into the rich history of wood-fire techniques found throughout Asia. He retired from this third (or fourth) career in the arts after a decade or more.

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Farrell’s circuitous route took him from studies in painting and arts education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, to a masters degree at Penn State in 1960. Farrell taught as a k-12 educator before taking a position teaching painting and design at Purdue University. While at Purdue he accidentally offered to teach a clay class, which led to a lifetime of ceramics workshops, lectures, and international seminars throughout Europe, and in 1968 a professorship in the Ceramics Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He received a NEA ceramics sculpture award in the early 80’s, was a first year member of NCECA in 1965, and in 2000 Farrell was the artist in residence at EKWC in the Netherlands.

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