Nineteen
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 nature.
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. Manipulation of the painted surface to achieve space
and form has always been critical to Williams. While adhering
to subjects he knows and holds dear; the South Carolina swamps,
marshes, barrier islands, and marine life, he is able to depict
his subjects with an emotional connection unlike any other.
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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:
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
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