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Bill Harvey is a Brooklyn based artist, musician, designer - AKA William X Harvey
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William "Bill" Harvey is an American artist, designer, musician, and architectual designer known for his contributions to contemporary sculpture, design, and music. He resides Brooklyn, New York with his wife with whom he has two children.
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Early Life and Education
Harvey grew up in the Baltimore-Washington area, where his father was a civil rights activist and Presbyterian minister. He lived briefly in Auckland, New Zealand and later attended the Key School in Annapolis, Maryland.  In high school, he co-founded a noise music collective that performed throughout the region. Later while attending the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. (1977–79), he produced new wave rock concerts featuring bands such as Judy’s Fixation, Ebenezer & The Bludgeons, The B-52s, and Urban Verbs.
 
Career in Visual Art and Design
Harvey’s visual art career began while he was still a teenager with exhibitions in Annapolis, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. His sculptural work was featured in City Art ‘79 at the Studio Gallery in D.C. where Washington Post critic Jo Ann Lewis was enthralled by Harvey's work describing it as “funny and threatening” and the “Best in Show." After moving to New York City Harvey was included in the ground breaking1985 group exhibition at The Kitchen titled Objects in Collision curated by Howard Halle. The following year, he was featured in Six Sculptors curated by Valerie Smith at Artists Space. In 2001, noted curator Walter Hopps included Bill Harvey in a major survey of contemporary artists titled  Post-Modern Americans at the Menil Collection. Hopps described Harvey to a journalist as “one of the most interesting post modern artists.” His work remains in the Menil Collection’s permanent holdings.
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Product Design
Beginning in 1990, Harvey designed and produced home décor products under his eponymous label that were sold in more than 300 stores worldwide. His product designs have been licensed to companies such as Umbra, Du Verre, and Crate & Barrel and have been featured in numerous prominent publications, including:

  • The New York Sun (June 7, 2002) "Mr. Harvey has designed fixtures that transform industrial materials into visually appealing objects for the new Williamsburg Brooklyn fashion retailer Crypto.”

  • New York Magazine – Harvey's Rack of Distinction for Umbra - Best Bets by Rima Suqi, August 13, 2001

  • The New York Times – “Green”, 2008

  • The New York Times, Currents, by Lucie Young (August 25, 1994) –  William Harvey Studio, curtains

  • The New York Times, Currents, by Lucie Young (November 19, 1998) – William Harvey candle holders

  • The New York Times, Currents, by Lucie Young (January 28, 1999)

  • The New York Times – “New Gift Ideas Focus on Earth and Nation”, February 28, 1991

  • Interior Design Magazine – Top Twenty of ‘99, December 1999 (pg. 57) – William Harvey hardware designs for Du Verrre

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Architectural Design
In 2003-04, Harvey designed and built his iconic home and studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The home and studio is featured in Brooklyn Modern: Architecture, Interiors and Design by Diane Lind (Rizzoli, 2008), where it was recognized as a significant example of Brooklyn’s evolving architectural landscape (Lind, 2008, pp. 180–191). The home was also profiled in a New York Times feature which described Harvey as “an elder statesman in Williamsburg, Brooklyn,” and “an original scenester acting as mentor for the next generation” (Green, 2008).
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Musician
After playing in numerous rock bands, In high school, Harvey co-founded Fuji’s Navy, an experimental noise music ensemble that was active in the Baltimore-Washington area. Their 1973 performance at The First Annual End of the World Show at Johns Hopkins University's Shriver Hall was attended by Baltimore bohemian notables such as actor Divine, Edith "the egg lady" Massy and filmmaker John Waters, the show was cited as being in the Top 100 Concerts of All Time by Idioideo (1973) and D’Antoni (1973) and also noted in an Evening Sun article titled 'Stray Notes: City Slickers are Spoilers: Off Beat by John Schulian,' published on September 4, 1974.
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While attending art school in Washington D.C. Harvey became an interlocutor between the art and music scenes. Producing concerts at the Corcoran School of Art featuring influential rising D.C bands Urban Verbs, Judy’s Fixation, Ebenezer and the Bludgeons, and Tiny Desk Unit as well as out of towners, like B-52's. In 2008, he joined Urban Verbs, playing bass for their reunion that featured a concert at the 9:30 Club that was broadcast on NPR.
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In 2014, Harvey joined The Lord Calverts, A 2015 feature titled “Exploring The Grunge-Filled ‘Now’ of the Lord Calverts” by John Pfeiffer delved into the band’s evolving sound. The Lord Calverts were named one of the ‘Top Ten NYC Bands to See in 2020’  by Charlie Crespo in The Aquarian Weekly.
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Bill Harvey has performed in numerous one-off concerts, including:

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Discography
Bill Harvey appears as bassist on:

  • 2012 – The Heavy Freight – Trying Songs of Love (re-released in 2022)

  • 2010-24 – Danger Painters – (albums released annually)

  • 2015 – The Lord Calverts – NOW! (Gibberish Records, CD and digital)

  • 2019 – Lulu Lewis – Genuine Psychic (Ilegallia Records)

  • 2019 – The Du-Rites – Sound Check at 6, Live at Symphony Space (Ilegalia & ReDef Records)

  • 2022 – Lulu Lewis – Dyscopia – (Ilegalia Records)

 
Film Score

  • 2008 – Harvey provided guitar solo score for Le Denier Paon Albino  a film by Matthew Harrison, starring Kevin Corrigan

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Creative Stakeholder: community builder
In 2006, Harvey proposed and avocated for the creation of the North Brooklyn Creative Economy Zone in response to the Bloomberg administration’s rezoning of North Brooklyn. With his guidance legislation was introduced in the New Yprk State Senate that would establish the North Brooklyn Creative Economy Zone  New York State Senate Bill A8327 (2011). His initiative spawned many similar initiatives that have been proposed by politicians and interest groups in Brooklyn, the NYC area and worldwide,
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In 2014, Bill Harvey founded NY is Music, with Justin Kalifowitz and initiated the Empire State Music Production Tax Credit (A10083A/S7485A), a bill aimed at supporting and growing the music recording ecology in New York State. The bill passed the legislature in 2016, but was not signed by then Governor Cuomo. NY is Music’s legislative initiative (the ESMPTC) was widely supported and featured in numerous articles including, Metro NY’s  "New Group Hopes to Keep Music in NY" by Wendy Joan Biddlecomb, October 13, 2014. The article discusses NYisMusic efforts to retain and grow the music industry in New York. A New York Times article titled “Music Industry Pushes for New York Tax Credits Like Film Industry’s” on October 7, 2014 and a Billboard article "New York Is Music’ Coalition Aims to Stimulate Empire State’s Ailing Music Industry” from October 9, 2014, also discuss the coalition's efforts to boost New York's struggling music recording industry.
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Additional press regarding Bill Harvey's advocacy and New York is Music:

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Additional Bill Harvey Citations

  • The Dream Colony: A Life in Art, Walter Hopps with Deborah Treisman and Anne Doran, Bloomsbury, 2017 (p. 297)

  • Remain in Love: Talking Heads,Tom Tom Club, Tina, by Chris Frantz, St. Martin’s Press, 2020 (p. 238)

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Selected Press:

 
Additional References:

       “Brooklyn-based artist Bill Harvey is a post-punk Renaissance Man”

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 2025

Willliam - Bill - Harvey is a Brooklyn based artist, musician and designer

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