William Tolan

Bio

William Tolan’s work has been widely exhibited and is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Milwaukee Museum of Art, and the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, among other private and public collections. Currently a Professor of Art and President of the Full-Time Faculty Senate at Austin Community College, Tolan formally served on the Boards of Directors of both the Society for Photographic Education and the Texas Photographic Society. He attended Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, from 1981-1985, majoring in Chinese Studies, received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from New York University in 1988 and his Master of Fine Arts from Arizona State University in 1994. He has taught extensively, including at Phillips Academy, Syracuse University, St. Edward's University and Texas State. He was co-director of the Andover-Bread Loaf Writing Workshop's Lawrence Program, teaching at-risk children, from 1991-92, a photo editor and staff photographer for an online news site in New York City from 1997-2001, as well as the Assistant Director of The Light Factory in Charlotte, NC, from 2001-2002.

Tolan’s creative and curatorial work has focused on the issue of the family. He co-curated the exhibition Family Matters at Northlight Gallery, which included the work of Sally Mann, Vince Leo, Melissa Shook and Philip Lorca di Corcia. His own work has been included in the Museum of Modern Art’s "Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort," the Silver Eye Center for Photography's "Our Families," among other exhibitions. Tolan received fellowships from both the Houston Center for Photography and the Texas Photographic Society. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife Jenny, sons Theo and Finn, and dogs Blu & Bell.

Tolan’s curriculum vitae can be viewed here.