Bill Burgard Wins Water Tower Design Contest

Stamps Lecturer Bill Burgard has won Ann Arbor’s Art in the Sky public art contest, and his design will adorn an Ann Arbor water tower when the 500,000-gallon steel tank is repainted later this year.

Burgard, an Ann Arbor-based freelance illustrator and designer, is a University of Michigan Stamps School of Art and Design lecturer. He’s also a Stamps School graduate and lives not far from the water tower.

His design will adorn the tower later this year when the 500,000-gallon steel tank is repainted as part of a re-coating project.

Burgard’s design features a swan, sandhill crane, woodpecker, and a bird of prey in flight, along with bluegill fish down below swimming in the Huron River, which is where Ann Arbor gets most of its drinking water.

“I really felt what was up there should reflect what’s local and what we think of when we think of our water system,” Burgard said. ​“Also, I really liked the idea that the water tower is up in the sky, where the birds are, and they hang out in the river, too, so I thought it was a nice kind of natural combination.”

Design by U‑M art school lecturer chosen for Ann Arbor water tower