Harlan Gallery/Seton Hill University, November 4th, 2021
Finding Home, December 4th thru January 18th, Harmony Hall Arts Center, Fort Washington, MD
My art is a montage of fragmented forms, lyrical in movement, charged with emotions and woven together with subliminal messages; it echoes a social injustice. Edges are scarred with repeated rejection, seeking out answers and settling for revenge. Abstract shapes and forms combine a richness through saturated colors and diversity through textures. I tell my stories to reveal my emotions, to express my ideas and to find healing.
My “collage paintings” (ref. Lee Krasner) are made of diagonal, horizontal and vertical lines. I want to create in their shadows of surrealism, a juxtaposition of wildly dissimilar things a third reality to make what is invisible, visible and to bring a name to this protagonists. Their deeply etched faces are hide behind screen doors, offering up a glimmer of hope.
The contour of one shape guides the contour of the next shape’s outline. Each shape offers a juxtaposition between meditative and aggressive, a bridge between brittleness and fluidity. Its repetitive nature adds dimension and distinctive details; it complements my geometrical sense of balance.
Two sets of divided plans establish a space that paradoxically seems entirely flat.
The materials are of a diverse nature, they are the surfaces as well as depths of renderings: forms, lines and shapes. There are also the stories that emerge from these environments: stories about identity, love, compassion, anger, sensitivity and being human.
I offer the viewer a place where energy and matter are indistinguishable, explosions of saturated energy overpower the ridge stability of a rectangular space, establishing bold and shifting perspectives.
My collage paintings converge with the human spirit, the emotional agitation and sensitivity — the music. My art has always been about physical form, gritty textures, vibrant bold colors that speak to us with compassion and love.
www. acquaetta.com
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.
Her work as glassblower has been acknowledged in the permanent collections of Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY, the Museum of Arts and Design in NY, Racine Art Museum, WI and the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce, Ohio.
ACQUAETTA WILLIAMS
Solo Exhibitions:
2018 Northern Virginia Community College
2016 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
1999 Somerset, County Arts Council, Crisfield, MD
1991 William H. Thomas Gallery, Columbus, OH
Benjamin-Marcus Gallery, Columbus, OH
1987 Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, OH
1980 Northern State College, Aberdeen, S.D.
Group Exhibitions:
2023 Women of Color, Liz Long Gallery Urban Retreat Art Center, Chicago , IL
Renewal, Lowe’s Building at the Capitol, Annapolis, MD
2022 New Editions, New Door Creative, Baltimore, MD
Hope and Healing, Montpelier Art Center, Laurel, MD
Mood, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlantic, GA
Racine Art Museum Showcase: Focus on Glass, Racine, WI
Racine Art Museum: Abstraction, Racine, WI Hill Center Arts Galleries, Washington. DC
Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art: Salon des Refuses, Wausau, WI
2021 Finding Home 2021, Harmony Hall Arts Center, Fort Washington, MD
Biannual Regional Women in the Arts, Seton Hill University, Harlan Gallery, Greensburg, PA
MFA’s Corporate Connections 2021, National Harbor, MD
United Through Arts 2021 Art of Japan Juried Exhibition Online Medford Arts
Untold Black Stories in Contemporary Art, Jacoby Arts Center, Alton, IL
Artist Statement #6, CICA Museum, Gyeonggi, South Korea
Artists to Follow in 2021, Virtual Exhibition, Michael Rose Fine Art, Providence Arts Club, NewEngland, www.michaelrosefineart.com.
Rewrite Realty, Independent & Image Art Space, Virtual Exhibition, Chongqing, China, https://independentimage.org/
ARTLAND: https://www.artland.com/exhibitions/rewrite-reality
virtual exhibition: 5274902/rewrite-reality Art Express: http://exhibit.artron.net/exhibition-71658.html
Abstract Mind, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gyeonggi, South Korea
Group Exhibition continues:
2020 42nd Annual Juried Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ
Abstract Only, Hawaii Island Art Alliance, Wailoa Center, Hilo, HI
Symbiotic Presence, 32th Annual Prince George’s County Juried Exhibition, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Hyattsville, MD
Cerulean Arts Gallery, 8th Annual Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA
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
WA 2020, Waterloo Arts Gallery, Cleveland, OH
Prince George’s County Exhibition, Lowe House, Annapolis, MD
2019 Colour and Form Society, 67th
OpenJuriedExhibitionToronto,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
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
Judge, International Porcelain Competition, Columbus, OH, 1992
Scholarship, Master Glass Class, Pilchuck Glass School, Seattle, WA, 1991
Visiting Artist, University of Illinois, Carbondale, IL, 1991
Lecturer, Acquaetta Williams, Cincinnati Museum, Cincinnati, OH, 1990
Instructor: Introduction to Glassblowing, Creative Activities Program, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 1988-1990
Publications:
Wow Art Magazine, Dubai, 2023
Al-Tiba9, Barcelona, Spain 2023
“Focus On Glass”, article reviewed by Shepherd Express newspaper, Milwaukee, WI, 2022
COLOURS, Issue No. 12 Special Edition, September 2022
Where Magazine, Washington D C, Preview: “Four Score” Jean Lawlor Cohen, p. 23,
February, 2009
The Urban Glass Art Quarterly: No. 112, review: “Deconstructing Time: Memories, “ Robert C. Morgan, p. 89, Fall, 2008
Perspectives: Authentic voices of African Americans, Curriculum Associates, Textbook
Diverse Perceptions, Selections from the AT&T Collection, (32 ready to mail full color post cards), the AT&T Learning Center, 1997
Dialogue: Volume 17, no 1, January/February, 1994, cover photo
Collections:
Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
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
Education:
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, MFA
University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, BFA
Art In Public:
Virginia Commonwealth University Out Patients Building, Richmond, VA
Prince George’s County Parks and Recreation, Greenbelt, MD
Revival Hotel, Baltimore, MD
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