Born in Sumter, SC 1963.
Twenty one years after graduating from the University of South Carolina with a BFA in Studio Art, Mike Williams has become one of the South’s most acclaimed visual artists. An avid outdoorsman who grew up hunting and fishing, the Sumter, SC native identifies with the natural world. It’s the “Fish Paintings” that have garnered him so much attention, pulsating as metaphors for life; but the ethereal, watery landscapes clearly reveal the artist’s mystical sensibilities.

Williams is an artist who has managed to create a style that serves as a synthesis between the representational world of tradition and the emotional world explored by “modern” abstract painters. His work is lyrical and visually intriguing.

Born: 1963 Sumter, SC
Education: University of South Carolina BFA Studio Art 1990

Williams works may be found in these Permanent Collections:
The Columbia Museum of Art
South Carolina State Museum
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
The South Carolina State Art Collection
The Pritchard’s Island Foundation
The Spring Island Trust
Palmetto Richland Hospital, Columbia, SC

Selected Solo Exhibitions:
Summer Show, Cheryl Newby Gallery, Pawleys Island, SC 2010
Recent Works, Cheryl Newby Gallery, Pawleys Island, SC 2007
In the Round, Goodall Gallery, Columbia College, Columbia, SC 2006
New Work, Cheryl Newby Gallery, Pawleys Island, SC 2004 and 2006
Conception, Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, USC Upstate, Spartanburg, SC 2003-4
Translation, Francis Marion University, Florence, SC 2002
Translation; Interpretation of Pritchard’s Island, USC Beaufort, SC 2001
The Swamp, A Contemplative Space, Sumter Gallery of Art, Sumter, SC 1998
Mike Williams: New Paintings, Seabury Hall Gallery, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, IL 1996

Selected Group Exhibitions:
Abstract in Nature – Laura Spong, Paul Reed, Katie Walker, and Mike Williams
Gallery 80808, Columbia, SC 2007
Nine Exceptional Artists, The Cheryl Newby Gallery, Pawleys Island, SC 2005
First Annual Southeastern Sculptors Competition: Aiken County Historical Museum, Aiken, SC 2005
Up From the Mud, Aaron Baldwin/Mike Williams Vista Studios Gallery 80808
Columbia, SC 2005
Turning Wood, Painting Landscapes, Upstairs Gallery, Tryon, NC 2001
Return to Sender, The Postcard Group, Lake County Museum, Chicago, IL 2001
Terrain, Carillon Building Lobby, Charlotte, NC 1997
What’s for Dinner, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC 1995

Tel: (843) 979-0149 or (800) 435-2733
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President: Cheryl Newby
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