Amy Williams is a popular conceptual and fiber artist in Charleston, West Virginia.  Her works balance social commentary with humor, and are generally well-accepted by the public. 

Early Life

Amy Williams was born in Princeton, Indiana, but is currently a resident of Charleston, WV.  She has been an artist since she was a young girl.  She used to draw floor plans and took a pastel class.  She also enjoyed sitting in trees, which inspired her greatly.  Amy’s parents tried to expose her to many different things that they missed out on growing up, which allowed he to expand her knowledge of the artistic universe.  Her aunt also influenced her a great deal, who did a lot of 70s paintings.

Amy did not have a whole of training in art.  She did study religious art, a little.  Mainly she just decides what sort of project she wants to do next, then takes it from there, learning about the techniques and mediums on her own, only asking for help when she needs it.  She tries to do the project without too much outside influence.  She claims not to be the best at technique, just good enough to get her message across.

Inspirations/Admirations/Goals

Amy is inspired the most by everyday life.  She looks to her spiritual life, nature, friends, reading, her pets, traveling, and just people who ask her for help with something can lead to a exciting projects far beyond original expectations.

Amy is currently working on an installation for the Stations of the Cross.  She is making Station One- “Jesus in the Garden,” with the help of the sixth graders at Charleston Catholic High School.  She is also doing an installation for FestivAll.  She is working on a language installation with Chris Dutch to label objects in downtown Charleston in Arabic, Spanish, and Italian.  They want it to be artistic, but educational, too.

At this point, Amy is just going with the flow.  She does not have any specific plans for her art.  She does want to continue to make Plush toys which are sold at Annex, Taylor Books, and Wholly Craft in Columbus, OH. At Taylor Books, she also has a Frida Kahlo doll and some prints relating to “This Little Pig Went To Market…” She also makes zines, little handmade magazines that are a lot of fun to make, that are free at Charleston Bread and Ellen’s Ice Cream.

In the past Amy has exhibited at Huntington Museum of Art, Corazon Art Galleria in Columbus, Oh, The Indianapolis Center, as well as several galleries in West Virginia.

Williams does not have a particular favorite work of her own art.  She really receives so much joy just from working on her piece, so whatever she is working on is usually her favorite.

One of her favourite artists is Chris Dutch, whom she is currently working on an installation with.  She really loves his stained glass and his mural on the East End of Charleston.  She also likes Todd Griffith’s photography and Keeley Steele’s “funky fine art.”

Current/Future Work

Amy’s studio is really just a little sewing and art room off of her kitchen, but she does a lot of work outside of her studio.  She is mobile artist who often uses the studios of friends, Chris Dutch and Robin Hammer, especially for bigger projects.

Amy loves to make conceptual art.  Especially outdoor installations or interesting photography that tells stories.  Concepts are really her main focus.  Really she starts with an idea and then figures out how to best complete them from there.  She really does not focus too much on technique.  She is too busy doing something new.

Amy likes to include social issues in her art pretty often.  A few years ago, she was very into promoting peace.  She was working on the peace crane project, which involved making what seemed like millions of origami cranes and hung them at Taylor Books to help raise awareness of the war and promote a peaceful end.  She says, “it was a positive way to involve people in thinking about peace from a creative perspective.”  Many people in the community got involved with that project.  There was even a crane-folding workshop set up at Ellen’s Ice Cream where anybody could come in and learn how to make paper cranes.  “It’s fun teaching people to do something new.”  Amy says about the experience.  The language installation that Amy is currently working on is meant to encourage people to think about communication and how our world is interconnected.  But a lot of people found her language installation, with signs denoting Spanish words for objects in the city, was really controversial.  A lot of people did not like it, but she was ok with that.

Amy feels that her art and her life are definitely intertwined.  She uses her art as a positive outlet.  “When I’m up, I love to use art to express myself.”  She says that creativity is very healing and it has really transformed her life.  Also, when she is traveling she looks for art and art related things.  “There are so many cool things going on in the world out there right now!”