Michelle Williams
I am a person that has had many hats, besides being an artist I have been a student, teacher, entrepreneur, avid traveler & student of many cultures. I have two adult daughters who are also artists and three grandchildren. Even my son in laws are creative and of course my grandchildren are naturally creative. Currently I am responsible for the care of my 91 year old mother in Florida. As a result I split my time between Wilmette, a suburb of Chicago, and Palm Beach, Florida.
I come from a fiber arts background having worked with the various techniques of weaving, embroidery, basketry, felting and manipulation of fibers/fabrics and beading. I now consider myself a mixed media artist working with sculpture using beads. I have a BA in art/ education and I am mostly self taught. I have taken a variety of workshops with noted artists. For many years I was in a critique group with other artists and professors from the Chicago Art Institute, the Kansas City Art Institute and other institutions.I have been in an artist-bead group for years.
My work reflects an ongoing inner dialogue with myself and my materials. I am attracted to the reflective qualities of the glass beads, the interaction of materials and the historical implications of the materials. Due to the nature and slow process of beading there is much time during the art making process to reflect and let feelings surface. As a result of my process I am interested in the layers that compose each of us. Thus there are many layers within my sculptures.Each sculpture is thickly encrusted with beads. Many of my sculptures have a quartz crystal within them which creates powerful energy for the viewer.
Recently I have also begun to be concerned with all our waste and discarded materials. As a result I have been collecting all types of bottle tops. I build sculptures with the bottle tops that are also thickly encrusted with beads. My sculptures are in the human form and mostly female. My work is in private collections, and is featured in several books on beading. I have received numerous awards.
