William Underhill, renowned sculptor, emeritus professor at Alfred University, passes away

ALFRED, NY – William Underhill, renowned sculptor and emeritus professor at Alfred University who cast the King Alfred Statue located in the center of campus, passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 16. Underhill was 88 and living in Wellsville, NY, at the time of his death.

Underhill taught sculpture in the Alfred University School of Art and Design, Division of Sculpture and Dimensional Studies, from 1969 until his retirement in 1997. In 1990, he installed the King Alfred Statue, cast in bronze, in the center of the Alfred University campus between Alumni Hall and what is now Powell Campus Center.

“I make metal bowls, bronze vessels cast by the lost wax process. The vessel is a primary form, irreducible and complete,” Underhill once said of his work. “Our subconscious speaks in poetry, in metaphors endlessly rich and varied. We are always making equivalents through all the senses, all media –movement, sound, light and color. Making metaphors, analogies - these are all poetry.”

Wayne Higby, director of the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, said the museum will open an exhibition of Underhill’s work on April 21, 2022. The exhibition, Higby said, will in large measure focus on vessel forms Underhill created from the early 1960 until early 2000.