Buster Simpson

File:Situations chairs at Downtown Crossing station, February 2013.JPG in the 1980s]]

Lewis Cole Simpson was born in Saginaw, Michigan and raised in a nearby farming community. He became interested in art while attending junior college in Flint and attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, graduating in 1969 with a master in fine arts. After graduating, Simpson joined other artists at the Woodstock Festival in New York state, helping build play areas for festivalgoers.{{cite web |last=Graves |first=Jen |date=September 18, 2013 |title=Simpson, Buster (b. 1942) |url=http://www.historylink.org/File/10620 |work=HistoryLink |accessdate=November 24, 2016}}{{cite news |last=Updike |first=Robin |date=January 18, 1998 |title=Expanding the canvas for public art: Agitator Buster Simpson's works are of the people, and for the people |page=M1 |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19980118/2729267/expanding-the-canvas-for-public-art----agitator-buster-simpsons-works-are-of-the-people-and-for-the-people |work=The Seattle Times |access-date=November 24, 2016}}

Simpson caught the attention of glass artist Dale Chihuly in 1971 while giving a talk at the Rhode Island School of Design and invited him to join the new Pilchuck Glass School near Stanwood, Washington. Two years later, Simpson moved to Seattle and began his work in "recycled art" at a studio in Pioneer Square.{{cite web |last=Graves |first=Jen |date=September 20, 2013 |title=Buster Simpson arrives in Seattle and makes his first eco-art installation downtown, with fellow artist Chris Jonic, beginning on December 4, 1973. |url=http://historylink.org/File/10622 |work=HistoryLink |accessdate=November 24, 2016}} During the 1970s, Simpson created several pieces of public art along Post Alley near Pike Place Market, utilizing materials from dumpsters and thrift shops for Shared Clothesline and discarded bottles as scrap glass for 90 Pine Show and Counterparts. He also developed an alter ego, named "Woodman", used during street performances while scavenging for materials.{{cite news |last=Farr |first=Sheila |date=June 18, 2013 |title=Enter the Woodman: The Frye Recaps the Career of Eco-Artist Buster Simpson |url=http://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2013/6/18/enter-the-woodman-the-frye-recaps-the-career-of-buster-simpson-june-2013 |work=Seattle Met |accessdate=November 24, 2016}}{{cite news |last=Graves |first=Jen |date=July 10, 2013 |title=The Outside Artist |url=http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-outside-artist/Content?oid=17209000 |work=The Stranger |accessdate=November 24, 2016}}

During the 1980s, Simpson engaged in "agitprop" work, including dropping soft limestone blocks in the headwaters of the Hudson River that was dubbed by the media as "River Rolaids".{{cite news |last=Ayers |first=Robert |date=July 5, 2013 |title=Celebrating artist Buster Simpson's 'sky's the limit' spirit |page=E23 |url=http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/buster-simpson-show-at-frye-a-wide-ranging-delight/ |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=November 24, 2016}}

Simpson was later commissioned by institutions and governments across the United States and Canada to create public art to display in cities. Simpson was given his first career retrospective in 2013 at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, called Buster Simpson: Surveyor.{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Brian |date=July 30, 2013 |title=Visual Arts: Buster Simpson at the Frye |url=http://archive.seattleweekly.com/arts/947854-129/simpson-frye-park-art-create-materials |work=Seattle Weekly |accessdate=November 24, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124154922/http://archive.seattleweekly.com/arts/947854-129/simpson-frye-park-art-create-materials |archive-date=November 24, 2016 |url-status=dead }}

In 2019, Buster Simpson was included in two group exhibitions exploring the material glass as vehicle for sculpture, in painting and as tool of conceptual inspiration - An Alternative History: The Other Glass, in New York City and As In Also: An Alternative Too, in Seattle - each organized by artist, published author and independent curator John Drury.

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• 2009 Public Art Network Award from Americans for the Arts{{cite news |date=June 25, 2009 |title=Environmental Artist Buster Simpson Wins PAN Award |url=http://ca.blouinartinfo.com/contemporary-arts/article/31845-environmental-artist-buster-simpson-wins-pan-award |work=Blouin Artinfo Canada |publisher=Louise Blouin Media |accessdate=November 24, 2016}}

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• {{Official website|http://www.bustersimpson.net}}
• [http://www.bustersimpson.net/surveyor/bustersimpson-surveyor-catalog.pdf Buster Simpson: Surveyor]

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Category:1942 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American sculptors

Category:20th-century American male artists

Category:Pacific Northwest artists

Category:People from Saginaw, Michigan

Category:University of Michigan alumni