William McWhorter Art

A seventh-generation West Virginian, McWhorter went to California in 1968. Upon returning from service in Vietnam, he enrolled at California State University. Here, he began his quest to create the illusion of light on canvas by studying the works of the impressionists and hiking the Sierra Nevada region where the dazzling light plays on the atmosphere and the mountains. “I was moved by the dynamic landscape of the Western States and became fascinated by the Hudson River artists and other early 19th century painters.” His paintings are sold in galleries nationwide and have been purchased by numerous private collectors. His work is in the corporate collections of Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Marriott Hotels, AT&T, Houston Oil Minerals and Coldwell Banker, among numerous others. In 1993, he was one of the co-founders of Artists at Work, which is a cooperative gallery of local artists that is located on Davis Avenue in Elkins, West Virginia. In addition to his painting career, McWhorter has taught art at Davis Elkins College, in the Randolph County schools as an Arts Bank instructor and at the Randolph County Community Arts Center. He has served as coordinator for the ArtsBank program since 2002 and served as class coordinator at RCCAC.