William T. Williams

William T. Williams
Personal details
Born July 17, 1942 (1942-07-17) (age 69)
Cross Creek, North Carolina
Nationality American
Profession Fine Artist
Website Official website

William T. Williams was born in Cross Creek, North Carolina, United States. He received a BFA degree from Pratt Institute in 1966 and studied at The Skowhegan School of Art. In 1968 he received an MFA degree from Yale University School of Art and Architecture. He is presently Professor of Art at Brooklyn College, the City University of New York, whose faculty he joined in 1971.

Williams is a recipient of numerous awards including a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Awards, and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Award. He is also a recipient of The Studio Museum in Harlem's Artist Award in 1992 and received The James Van Dee Zee Award from the Brandywine Workshop for lifetime achievement in the arts in 2005. Most recently, he was the recipient of the 2006 North Carolina Governors Award for Fine Arts. The highest civilian honor the state can bestow. William's is represented in numerous museum and corporate collections including The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, The Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The Menil Collection, Fogg Art Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Library of Congress, Yale University Art Gallery, Chase Manhattan Bank, AT&T, General Mills Corporation, UnitedHealth Group, Southwestern Bell Corporation and Prudential Financial Insurance Company of America.

He has exhibited in over 100 museums and art centers in the United States, France, Germany, Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, People's Republic of China and Japan.

Contents

Early Childhood

Born 1942, into the rural south

William T. Williams is a New York painter whose heritable roots in the South have remained a wellspring for his art throughout his career. His early childhood, spent in Spring Lake, North Carolina, provided the atmosphere for the sensible will an artist so often needs in the formative years. The colorful memories of a peaceful and wholesome lifestyle in the rural South followed Williams north. David C. Driskell, "An Unending Visual Odyssey"

New York: Late 50’s

The family's move to the North had a positive effect on Williams' future when his art talent was recognized by the head of a local community center who gave him a room there to use as a studio. He attended the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan (now the High School of Art and Design), which held many of its classes at the Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1962 Williams entered Pratt Institute to study painting. During his junior year there, he won a summer scholarship to The Skowhegan School of Art and also received a National Endowment for the Arts, traveling grant. Before his brief stay was over, he had decided that he would become an artist. Valerie J. Mercer, Behind Closed Doors

College years

First Encounters: The Art World

After completing an M.F.A. degree program in painting at Yale University in 1968, Williams quickly gained attention from the mainstream art world. The Museum of Modern Art acquired his composition "Elbert Jackson L.A.M.F., Part II in 1969, and by 1970 his work was being exhibited at The Foundation Maeght in the south of France, in a room with paintings by some of the superstars of abstract expressionism: Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko, Clifford Still and Philip Guston. Valerie J. Mercer

Art School

His formal education at Pratt Institute and Yale University in the 1960s in the visual arts curriculum prepared him well for the creative path his art would take in the next two decades. He moved consummately thereafter to investigate the physical boundaries one finds uncommon to explorations in the science of color, setting for himself the standard of achieving in his work an inherent completeness out of the reach of other painters. David C. Driskell

The Late 60’s

The late late 60s was a very busy time for William. In 1969 he participated in The Black Artist in America: A Symposium held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY. He also took part in numerous groundbreaking exhibitions includingThe Studio Museum in Harlem's Inaugural Show, X to the Fourth Power and New Acquisitions held at The Museum of Modern Art. In 1970 Williams was also commissioned by the Jewish Museum (New York), and The Menil Collection in Houston, TX.

Founding The Artist in Residence at SMH

"The trustees of The Studio Museum in Harlem read my proposal, interviewed me and hired me to start an Artist-in-Residence program. That program had its start at the first site of the Museum over the liquor store on Fifth Avenue (2033 Fifth Avenue). It was a loft, a factory going out of business that had a lot of sewing machines in it. Mel Edwards and I physically cleaned that space out for the Artist-in-Residence program. That was the beginning." I wanted to create a context, namely an Artist-in-Residence program, through which money could be funnelled to artists which would allow them to ponder the kinds of issues and questions that come up in a graduate program. Kinshasha Conwill, former director of the museum, says that the program "has become critical to the museum's identity and its contribution to the larger art arena."

Reese Palley Installation

Wiliam T. Williams first one-man show at New York's Reese Palley Gallery in 1971 resulted in the sale of every painting. That same year, The Whitney Museum of American Art exhibited his work twice; collectors such as AT&T and General Mills purchased his art; and his work was featured in both Life Magazine and Time Magazines. Valerie J. Mercer

The 70s: New Inspiration

Returning Home

Williams returned home to the dusty unpaved roads of North Carolina for the inspiration of a new palette, one born of the luster and glow of mica, false gold, and fox fire from earth's pulsating cover. Williams' relief from color-field painting was celebrated in the new works completed between 1971–1977, such as Equinox and Indian Summer. In 1975 William also took part in an artist in residence program at Fisk University in Nashville, TN. David C. Driskell

FESTAC Festival

In 1977, Williams participated in the second World Festival of Black Art and African Culture in Lagos, Nigeria, also known as FESTAC. This festival brought together more than 17,000 artists of African descent from 59 countries. It was the largest cultural event ever held on the African continent.

The 80’s

Early Exhibitions

In 1982 Williams was included in Recent Acquisitions of the Schomburg Collection at The Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York, NY. In 1984 William took part in a show titled Since the Harlem Renaissance, which traveled to The University of Maryland, Bucknell University and The State University of New York at Old Westbury. It also traveled to The Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, NY and The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA.

1987: Exhibit at the Smithsonian

In 1987 William received The John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. He also was a member of a show that took place in Tokyo, Japan entitled The Art of Black America in Japan. The international acclaim and fervor didn't stop there William also took part in Contemporary Visual Expressions, a show at The Anacostia Museum/Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Espiritu & Materia

William's traveled to Venezuela with painter Jack Whitten and sculptor's, Mel Edwards and Tyrone Mitchell for the opening of their exhibition Espiritu & Materia at The Museum of Visual Arts, Alejandro Otero.

The 90s

1992: Studio Museum in Harlem Artist Award

In 1992 William's was presented The Studio Museum in Harlem Artist's Award for lifetime achievement and his role in creating the artist-in-residence program for the museum.

Working With Bob Blackburn

Bob Blackburn first invited Williams to make a print at the Printmaking Workshop in 1975. Over the next 22 years, Williams collaborated with Blackburn to produce 19 editions, as well as, a number of unique print projects. Bob's friendship, expertise and advice was key to Williams development in the print medium. His last project at The Printmaking Workshop was in 1997 when he produced a number of monoprints underwritten by art patron, Major Thomas.

2000: To Conserve A Legacy

In 2000 Williams took part in an extensive traveling show entitled, To Conserve a Legacy: American Art from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The show organized by The Addison Gallery of American Art at Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York traveled to over 8 major museums including, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, Fisk University, Duke University and Hampton Universities Art museums.

Jazz at Lincoln Center

In 1994 Williams participated in a Jazz at Lincoln Center program titled, Swing Landscapes: Jazz Visualized. The intent of the Jazz Talk program was to explore what it is about jazz that makes its colors, rhythms and characters so attractive to the painter's eye. Williams, along with author, Alfred Appel, Jr. discussed the influence of jazz on modern art. This program was part of a NY citywide celebration honoring the artist Romare Bearden.

Current events

Receives Award for Lifetime Achievement

In 2005, Williams was invited to create a print at The Brandywine Workshop in conjunction with receiving The James Van Der Zee Award for Lifetime Achievement. Between July and late August he made five trips to Philadelphia staying several days at a time. These trips were unusually productive yielding four editions and a number of unique hand-colored prints. The Brandywine Workshop located in Phildalephia was founded in 1972 to promote interest and talent in printmaking while cultivating cultural diversity in the arts.

Printmaking at Lafayette College

In 2006, Williams was a visiting scholar and artist in residence at Lafayette College's, Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI), which included Williams lecture about his work sponsored by the David L. Sr. and Helen J. Temple Visiting Lecture Series Fund. During this year, William's work was also shown at The Studio Museum in Harlem in Energy and Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction 1964-1980.

2006: Receives North Carolina Governors Award

In 2006 William T. Williams received The North Carolina Governors Award for Fine Arts by Governor Mike Easley. This is the highest civilian honor a state can bestow.

Awards and grants

References and further reading

The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, 1982, Library of Congress 83-60208

External links