Sarah Williams
click on thumnail for larger image
TOPOLOGY COLLECTIVE
September 8th through November 18, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION:
Friday, September 8, 2006- 7-9pm
Sarah Williams work is inspired by science and her intense curiosity about the natural world.
Sarah Williams uses predictable mechanical photographic processes to print her images, but the real innovation of Williams's work comes in the creation of the negatives she uses. To make these negatives, Williams creates a detailed drawings on old cartography charts, graphing papers, and maps. Once the drawing is complete, Williams coats the paper with oil and bakes it in the oven, making it semi-transparent with an orange cast like that of a color negative. From these color paper negatives, she creates a photographic contact print and, as Williams explains, "utilizing a medium that is widely considered to represent reality, and abstracting it to communicate an outcome of mystery. Although I can control what colors will result in the final image, the variables of the drawings themselves, the paper types I use, and the length of time I bake each image creates subtle alchemical surprises in the final print. This element of controlled chaos serves as a constant reminder that science never will harness complete understanding of the natural or technological world."
In May of 2006, Sarah was selected as a recipient of a $2,000 Award of Excellence from the Oklahoma Visual Artist Coalition.
Sarah currently lives and works in Oklahoma City, OK. She received her BFA in Photography from the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico in 2001. Following her graduation from CSF, she lived in New York City for a brief period of time and returned to Oklahoma in 2002 to live and work as an artist.
EDUCATION 2001 BFA, College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
2006 Oklahoma Visual Artist Coalition Award of Excellence,
OKC, OK
2006 OVAC Sponsored Creative Capital Professional
Development Workshop, Lone Wolf, OK
2001 College of Santa Fe, Outstanding Student Leader, Juried
Exhibition, Santa Fe, NM
2000 College of Santa Fe, Outstanding Junior Artist Award,
Santa Fe, NM
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2007 CONNECTING THE CONSTELLATIONS OF AN
INTANGABLE UNIVERSE, Living Arts, Tulsa OK
2006 TOPOLOGY COLLECTIVE, MainSITE Contemporary Art
Gallery Norman, OK
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007 MOMENTUM, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition Annual
Juried Exhibition, OKC, OK
HEROES & OUTLAWS: 100 Oklahomans by 100
Oklahoma Artists, City Arts Center, OKC, OK
TWISTED STORIES, Liggett Studios, Tulsa, OK
2006 12x12, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition Annual Art Auction,
OKC, OK
2005 MOMENTUM, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition Annual
Juried Exhibition, OKC, OK
BACK TO BASICS PHOTOGRAPHY, City Arts Center,
OKC, OK
12x12, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coaliton Annual Art Auction,
OKC, OK
2004 MOMENTUM, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coaltion Annual
Juried Exhibition, OKC, OK
12x12, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coaliton Annual Art Auction,
OKC, OK
2003 FUSION: Cafe City Arts, City Arts Center, OKC, OK
CORE EVIDENCE, MainSITE Contemporary Art Gallery,
Norman, OK
2002 AARVD BENEFIT AUCTION, Brooklyn, NY
2001 ANNUAL JURIED ART EXHIBITION, College of Santa Fe,
Santa Fe, NM
LATENT MATTER, College of Santa Fe Fine Arts Gallery,
Santa Fe, NM
SELECTED PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
2006 Tulsa Weekly: Twisted Stories Preview
ArtFocus Oklahoma: Cover, MainSITE- Sarah Williams-
Hearn & Mateo Galvano
ArtFocus Oklahoma: OVAC Award of Excellence
The Daily Oklahoman: Art Review: Exhibition Features
Unique Visions
Oklahoma Today: Photo Synthesis
2005 Oklahoma City Downtown Monthly: 12x12 Featured Review
Urban Address, Discover Oklahoma, Featured Artist
In addition to creating fine art, Sarah designs a variety of purses, pillows, etc under her label, Latent Matter. Although the textiles are already being made and sold at her OKC studio, the website latentmatter.com is due to launch May 1st, 2007.
lmgrnsm.jpg
ARTIST STATEMENT
I make art because I have to. My artwork is influenced by cutting-edge technological/ scientific discoveries. This body of work represents the natural relationship between science and photography. I have always possessed a deep sense of curiosity about the natural world. The more research I do, the more awe it inspires, and the realization of how little I know is magnified. My artwork is a byproduct of this research. It is this tension between knowledge and lack there of that remains consuming for me artistically.
For example, the complexity of biological forms remains deeply inspiring to me. Similarly, I view cities as living organisms working together to function as a whole. As imperfect beings, cities consist of parts that connect everything to make them work properly, even parts that are useless, yet all of these parts combined make up the whole living organism. Biological organisms are no different. They are often so complex in structure, yet so specialized in function that each individual component is unknown or unexplored. I plan to continue exploring these relationships of natural science and urban development in my artwork.
My subject matter is inspired by the beauty I find in the decaying objects of our culture: oil derricks, industrial plants, old water towers, grain silos and power lines. I see ambivalence in these man-made things. Once they were monumental discoveries in the field of science, capable of improving and simplifying life. Now, often abandoned, they are becoming relics of obsolete technology. As technology progresses forward, these objects are being phased-out, yet they remain as faint interruptions on the landscape, like fading memories.
PROCESS:
I often explore things that traditionally represent volume, space or density, draw them to appear 3-dimensional and flatten them into a photograph. Although I am using predictable mechanical process to print my images, this is contrasted with the use of exploratory methods and materials in creating my negatives. To make these negatives, I create detailed drawings on old cartography charts, graphing papers, and maps. Once a drawing is complete, I coat it with oil and bake it in the oven making it semi-transparent with an orange cast like that of a color negative. From these color paper negatives, I create contact prints thus utilizing a medium that is widely considered to represent reality, and abstracting it to communicate an outcome of mystery. Although I can control what colors will result in the final image, the variables of the drawings themselves, the paper types I use, and the length of time I bake each image creates subtle alchemic surprises in the final print. This element of controlled chaos serves as a constant reminder that science never will harness complete understanding of the natural or technological world.