Born in Texas to a military family in 1953, Randy Willier grew up mainly in the Midwest and Europe. As a youth, he attended many different schools before graduating from Frankfurt American High School in West Germany. Later, he studied the art of printmaking and received a BFA from Kansas State University in 1975 and an MFA from Indiana University in 1982. He then sold everything he owned and moved to New York City. There he lived a full and eventful life as an East Village artist, painting and exhibiting studio work and doing decorative and mural painting, illustration, set building, backdrop painting, photography, modeling and bicycle racing. He escaped New York on September 9, 2001 and moved to Rhode Island.

Academic research/areas of interest

At this moment, Willier’s research has turned towards design, screenprinting and surf/skate culture. In the studio, his work has revolved around a newfound interest in type combined with hand-drawn images to create surface decoration on everything from surf/skateboards to limited-edition T-shirts.