I search to find a personal sense of relevance in the beauty that touches me in my interaction with the Street Musician.
I search to find a personal sense of relevance in the beauty that touches me in my interaction with the Street Musician.
Artist Bio:
Acquaetta Williams’s art has been a life journey from glassblower to sculpture and now painter. Her inspiration evolved from vision of African Images to tell the story of African American Women in a sense of relevance in a complexity of her feelings, thoughts and memories. Williams reflects on her past to form an identity. She tells a story in assemblages of materials contained in Giraffe Neck Women, Women Who Carry and then into Timekeepers and Deconstructing Time: Memories. and now Faceless Melodies. Her love for art was cemented under instructor and well known artist Harvey Littleton at the University of Wisconsin. were she received a MFA degree. An Arts International Travel Grant that was awarded to her included travels through Benin in West Africa. She has exhibited her art Nationally, in Uncommon Beauty in Common Objects: The Legacy of African American Craft Art which included a tour throughout the United States, visiting 5 major museum, as well as International: the International Glass Exhibition, Kanazawa, Japan and “Color 2018”, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gyeonggi, Korea.
Artist Statement:
My collage paintings are abstract representations – the faceless: street musician, religious frantic and the homeless, their voices echo emotional agitation and sensitivity – the music. Balancing repetitive curves, slashes canvases that reveal more physical form, gritty textures, sharp bold colors that speak to us with compassion and love. Who are those who orchestrate this music, “I am homeless.” They are faceless, vulnerable and fragile.
These urban dwellers have only the repetitive voice of a broken record. I use this material to build intimacy between the viewer and myself.
Solo Exhibitions:
2018 Playin’ to the Edge, Publick Playhouse, Hyattsville, MD
Rachel Schlesinger Concert & Arts Center, NVCC , VA
2016 Faceless Melodies, Publick Playhouse, Hyattsville, MD
2015 Arts Harmony Hall Regional Center, Fort Washington, MD
2011 DC Glassworks, Hyattsville, MD
2008 A Gathering of the Tribes, New York, NY
2007 New Door Creative, Baltimore, MD
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2020 10th Annual Pinnacle National Juried Art Competition, Foster Tanner Arts Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
Into the Light, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana,
CA
Abstract National Exhibition, Mark Arts, Wiedermann Gallery, Wichita, KS
Reflections, Vancouver Arts Space, Vancouver. WA
Cerulean Arts Gallery, 8th Annual Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA
Prince George’s County Exhibition, Lowe House, Annapolis, MD
2019 Colour and Form Society, 67th Open Juried Exhibition, Toronto, ON
Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD
Lines, Shapes and Objects (Internet)
Bold Expressions, Northern California Arts, Sacramento, CA
2nd Tri-Annual Maryland State Artist Exhibition, MD
Time, Mills Pond Gallery, St James, NY
Reflections on Light, Wohlfarth Gallery, Washington, DC Non Objective Abstract Art, 3 Square Art Gallery, Fort Collins, CO Prince George’s County Exhibition, Lowe House, Annapolis, MD
Melody of Art, Serendipity Labs, Bethesda, MD
Hill Center Galleries, Regional Juried Exhibition, Washington, DC
2018 WCADC at The Cooley Gallery, Leesburg, VA (September 2018 ) Color 2018, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gyeonggi,Korea
Does It Match the Couch?, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ
Bring It, Prince George”s County Exhibition, Lowe House,
Annapolis, MD
Professional Experience:
Guest Lecturer, Bowie State University, Bowie, MD, 2008
Guest Lecturer, Columbus, OH, 1994-1995
Arts International Travel Grant, Nigeria, Africa, 1994
Artist-In-Residence, New York Experimental Glass Workshop, New York, NY, 1993
Instructor: Beginning Glassblowing, New York Experimental Glass Workshop, New York, NY 1993
Collections:
Bowie State University, Permanent Collection, Bowie, MD
The White House, Permanent Collection Christmas Ornament, “She Is Safeguarding the Peace”, Washington, DC
The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce, OH,
Collection AT&T Corp., The AT&T Learning Center, Basking Ridge, NJ
Corning Museum, Corning, NY
Museum of Arts & Design (formerly American Craft Museum ), New York,NY
Sheldon M. Barnett, MD, Milwaukee, WI
Artist Statement
I have worked in a variety of media sharing my thoughts and emotions, different from my family and friends I searched for individuality it remains with me even today. I found a voice in glassmaking, a non-traditional approach, pushing the material to its limits and questioning the concept functionality inherent in the vessel form. The finished results are fragile, delicate, streamlined shapes that accent the sculptural presence. Many of my earlier vessels make reference to the traditions and sensibilities of Japanese architecture, interior arrangements and packaging.
Why do I create Art? It is to remind people of there humanity.
My life journey continues; My art objects were no longer about the beautiful but the strength of the material —glass. The ‘Power Figures’ are African images that are both humanistic and sculptural, a collaboration with myself, carving and sandblasting glass images; spirits transforms objects that could possess the power of healing, of settling disputes, and of safeguarding the peace i have introduced a ritual quality in my art. The viewer is enticed to explore the translucent layers, sharp diagonals cut, and to compare colors and textures.
My current work combines assemblage re-purposed materials to create fragmented compositions of expressive lyrical movement. Vertigo explosions of saturated energy, overpowering the rigid stability of a rectangular space establishing bold and shifting perspectives that constantly offer more to be discovered.
These compositions are made of diagonals, horizontals and vertical lines, moon shaped eclipses rotate counter clockwise weaved together with scribbled messages that keep the eyes constantly moving. The reflective energy of vinyl plays to the illusion of shape shifting through the tiniest of light; moves and flickers refusing to settle down The vinyl pulls the canvas away from the wall at the same time draws the viewer closer.
Paper is my life chain connecting the outdoors, indoors, the repetitive nature of shapes add dimension, distinctive details and complements my geometry sense of balance. The viewer is slightly thrown off center that these recognizable objects so simple in line and edge, can hold such stable tension.
My collage paintings are faceless they embody the street musician, religious frantic and the homeless. Their voices echos emotional agitation and sensitivity often through music. Balanced repetitive curves that reveal more physical form, gritty textures sharp bold colors that speak to us with compassion and love. Who are those who orchestrate this music, “I am homeless.” Layered surfaces unzip and gently peel away to reveal the spiritual transformation; the heart and determination of individuals that have become invisible.
They are faceless, vulnerable and fragile.
These urban dwellers have only the repetitive voice of a broken record. I use this material to build intimacy between the viewer and myself.