William Rhodes’s art has been strongly influenced by his travels, particularly to Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, where he undertakes explorations into the contrast between traditional cultures and our modern one. In his work he explores themes of hidden knowledge, iconographic imagery and form, and variation in meaning depending on the cultural context. Rhodes is a founder of the 3.9 Art Collective, which is dedicated to rendering more visible the declining black population in San Francisco. The collective has become a platform for black artists who live in the city to create work that expresses their life experiences. Rhodes also works as an art educator in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, where he engages with children and the elderly on community-based art projects with the aim to generate personal and community empowerment and pride. Rhodes began his creative journey at the Baltimore School for the Arts, then earned a BA in furniture building and design from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.