Houston-based artist William Kalwick (b. 1960) is known for his portraiture work as well as his commitment to documenting the disappearing culture of Guatemala. Encouraged by his artist-father William Kalwick Sr., Kalwick studied at the Art Students League in New York where he met Hungarian painter Lajos Markos. In time, both settled in Houston, and Kalwick became Markos' protégé.

Unlike Markos, who painted images of the vanishing American West, Kalwick is attracted to the indigenous cultures of rural Mexico and Guatemala. He travels frequently to the country's rural areas to attend annual festivals and visit villages where he has cultivated close friendships over the span of twenty years.

Travel, he says, revitalizes him, providing fresh ideas and subject matter. And subject matter is "just an excuse to paint." Clearly, travel and the imagery derived from it play a very important role in Kalwick's creative process. Each fall he sets out for Colorado for a week of plein-air painting. Most recently, he had the opportunity to spend three weeks painting in China.

Kalwick has appeared in articles in Southwest Art and Art of the West. He has participated in numerous exhibitions, including Masters of the American West at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, the Prix de West at the Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City and the annual show at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa. Recent portrait commissions include Harold Hook, retiring CEO of American General Corp.; Reese Jones, international golf course designer; and Paul Merriman, retiring CEO of Hisco Corp.