In The Artist’s Studio: Hadley Williams

Through her meticulously rendered paintings, Piedmont artist Hadley Williams brings to life her vision of beauty –  the exact place where perfection is balanced with surprise.  Williams’ most recent work is a series of vibratory paintings with a deceptively simple composition of stripes of color stretching across the horizon of the canvas.  Using the painter’s tools of repetition and pattern, Williams applies bands of up to 40 related colors delightfully interrupted by the zing of an unexpected hue.  But the true reveal of Williams’ work is experienced through the action of viewing the paintings not only from a distance, but also at close range.  Because it is when looking closely at each color band individually that the artist’s hand is most apparent. It is here that colors can be seen to line up strictly in orderly rows, or alternatively, to seep or blend into each other as if in conversation.  To see Williams’ paintings is to notice: both the confidence conveyed through solid structure and the seeking, more human emotions felt when confronting the hand made.

Early Inspiration for Williams came from her mother’s weaving practice as well as trips to museums, theatre and music performances.  But it wasn’t until she was an adult that Williams began to imagine herself as an artist.  With a combination of found papers such as old accounting pages and paint, Williams used collage to create handmade grids.  These grids convey both the formal, intellectual relationship of shapes to each other: their boundaries; and the more personal, subjective expression of the beauty Williams wishes to create.