William Kasper

"I've always been exposed to art," says William Kasper, who grew up in Lind, a small town in eastern Washington. "My mother was the high school art teacher." Kasper got started in photography at Central Washington U, pursued painting and jewelry-making while working in LA in the early 70s, then had a darkroom and worked at a photo store in Spokane during the '74 World's Fair. He got married, had two sons, and returned to Ellensburg in 1980 for a job in facilities management at CWU. "I met the art professors, hired the students, and used their darkroom," he says. "I visited galleries and brought the kids." In 1999, when their sons had finished high school, he and his wife moved to Eugene for his current job as purchasing manager for facilities services at the UO. "I've gotten into digital photography and using software to manipulate images," says Kasper, who serves as president of the New Zone Artists' Collective. This year he established the New Zone's Gallery on the Bus project, a partnership with LTD that has placed posters by local artists in each of its buses, plus an internship program for students of the UO, LCC, and alternative schools. Learn more at kasperart.com and newzone.org.