Cathey Billian

Cathey Billian’s work integrates art with the environment and education, resulting in works that have resonated with public audiences for over 50 years. She earned her MFA from Pratt Institute eventually becoming a full professor, teaching for over 35 years.  She created Wild America, a series of college accredited initiatives partnering with the National Parks and has taught interdisciplinary environmental design at Cooper Union and the Masters’ Program in Exhibition Planning and Design at the University of the Arts. A select list of commissions and major installations includes: Mapping Place for Acadia National Park, Maine; High Passage for the Arch at Prospect Park, Brooklyn; and BiPlanar Arrival; a permanent commission of light and native geology for the Phoenix, AZ airport; (1992).

 

One of Cathey Billian’s notable research projects, the Whispering Bench (Pratt Institute Sculpture Park), transformed a classic park bench into an asymmetrical sculpture, blending functionality and artistic expression.

 

Billian has shared her talent through her work as an advisor and/or director of several projects.  These include:

• The Whitney Museum Sculpture Court-NYC; Future Antiquities (1984)
• The Advisory Board and guest editor of the Public Art Review for their issue “Nature Trails” (2000)
• YIELD for the Madison Museum-Yellowstone National Park
• Artistic Director of “kNOwing LIMITS,” (2000) A travelling exhibition of collaborative works of visual artists and nature writers to seven National Parks including the Grand Canyon.

Cathey Billian has received awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and six Residencies from the National Park Service.  Most recently her work was included in the Museum of Modern Art’s (MOMA) JAM: Changing Spaces (2023).  Permanent collections that own her work include:

• The Smithsonian
• The Library of Congress
• The Philadelphia Museum of Art
• The Brooklyn Museum
• The National Park Service
• Norton Simon Inc.
• Chase Manhattan Bank
• Private Collection of Vice-President Al Gore

Cathey Billian is the recipient of several residencies and grants from the following organizations including:

• National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
• Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation
  • New Jersey State Arts Council
  • National Park Service (six residencies)
  • Experimental Glass Workshop, NY
  • United States Forest Service (interpretive residency)
  • Four New York State Council on the Arts Project grants.