Education
He received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Bachelor from the University of Iowa.
He received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Bachelor from the University of Iowa.
He is a Professor of Art at Western Illinois University. Walters" artwork has been included in more than one hundred solo, invitational, and competitive exhibitions. Though his work has been primarily exhibited in galleries in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, his work has been shown in London, England, Germany, Japan, New York and Washington District of Columbia. Working in collaboration with some forty musicians, technicians, scientists and artists, Walters created Exploring National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which was first displayed as a 100" wide projection on the exterior of the Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa in conjunction with the Smithsonian exhibition "National Aeronautics and Space Administration | ART: 50 Years of Exploration" in 2012.
In December 2013, Exploring National Aeronautics and Space Administration was displayed as multiple projections at the Iowa Historical Museum in Des Moines, Iowa. Also in 2013, Walters" series of artworks based on Modest Mussorgsky"s Pictures at an Exhibition was exhibited in conjunction with a symphony orchestra concert at the Alder Theatre in Davenport, Iowa. Since 2007, Walters has exhibited and published artworks centered on the history, traditions and symbolism of Halloween.
Drawings from the Halloween Flight series were first exhibited at the Des Moines Art Center as part of the Iowa Artists 2008 exhibition. Vultus, a video sequence of one hundred cultural and Halloween masks, was projected on five art centers and galleries in October 2010 -ranging from forty foot high projections on the Figge Art Museum to an interior projection at the Contemporary Art Center in Peoria, Illinois. The first solo exhibition of Halloween Flight, at the Western Illinois University Art Gallery in 2009, displayed large paintings (the largest 12 x 10"), drawings, digital paintings, lenticular prints, exterior and interior video projections.
The exhibition also incorporated dancers, actors and musicians -including a harpsichordist and violinist. As a graphic designer and illustrator, Walters has created life-sized paintings for permanent display at the Hauberg Museum for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (temporarily displayed in Millennium Park in Chicago), political cartoons for the Quad City Times’ Editorial page.
Commemorative World World War II rifle illustrations and engravings for Springfield Armory.
And book and magazine illustrations. Walters" career in education began at Marycrest College in Davenport, Iowa where he assisted Alan Garfield in creating the first Bachelor of Arts program in computer graphics in 1984 (recognized by Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques). He taught at Marycrest for twelve years, serving as Chairperson of the Communication and Fine Arts Division for six years before beginning to teach at Western Illinois University in 1997.
He taught the first graduate art classes at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa for Western Illinois University in 2005.
Walters also taught computer art classes at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois for ten years, 2000-2009. Walters currently writes Art in Plain Sight, a continuing series of feature articles on public works of art published in the River Cities Reader.
The series began in 2010.