1950-Present
Works in the Collection
Biography
Michael Kelly Williams works in sculpture and fine art prints and also creates works on paper. His art is inspired by music, poetry, literature, nature, mythology and love. He draws heavily from world cultures, the art of the ancients, folk art, and African art. Concepts that interest him are the spiritual in art, environmental concerns, equality and justice, hierarchies collapsing, irony, and surrealism.
Williams graduated with a B.F.A. in Printmaking from the University of Michigan in 1975. He was Artist-in-Residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem from 1986 to 1987. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1988. He was the art director for “Daughters of the Dust,” a 1991 PBS-American Playhouse Production directed by Julie Dash. He graduated in 1996 with an M.F.A. in Sculpture from Brooklyn College. Williams has also been an educator with the Children’s Art Carnival, Studio in a School, and the New York City Department of Education system for many years. His work can be found in several museums and institutions, such as The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York; The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York.