Wiley standing at the top of The Tower (1990)
In his remarkable artistic practice, William T. Wiley (1937–2021) explored a wide range of media, including watercolors, paintings, collage, found object constructions, sculpture, and printmaking, as well as music, performance art, theater, and film. Wiley first visited Lippincott in 1979, and over the next decade and a half built more than two dozen sculptures with the Lippincott shop, including large scale works like Gong, 1986, and The Tower of the No Bull Salvage, 1990. He enjoyed the close collaborative atmosphere there and the shared sense of exploration and discovery in making his work. Often staying for weeks at a time, Wiley would develop a number of sculptures concurrently and then leave detailed instructions so that fabrication could continue during his absence.. All Wiley sculptures fabricated at Lippincott were executed under a partnership agreement.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum hosted What's It All Mean: Wiley in Retrospect during the winter of 2009–2010 and produced a catalog to accompany the exhibition. A complete biography is posted on his website.