MICHAEL KELLY WILLIAMS

^{(b. 1950, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France; lives and works in upstate New York)}

Michael Kelly Williams creates sculptures, works on paper, and prints. His art is inspired by music, literature, nature, and the art of the African diaspora. He draws heavily from the art of the ancients and folk art. Concepts that interest him are the spiritual in art, environmental concerns, equality, justice, and Afrofuturism. Williams has had residencies at The Studio Museum in Harlem, Materials for the Arts in Long Island City, and Wave Hill in the Bronx. He received the first Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Legacy Publication Fellowship at the Elizabeth Foundation and was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Grant. 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; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Williams has been commissioned for various permanent installations, including two mosaic murals located at the Intervale Subway Station (2/5) in the Bronx as well as several glass murals in P.S. 82 Hammond School in Queens, New York. His work has been exhibited in China, Morocco, Canada, India, and Japan.

Children’s Art Carnival affiliation: Teaching Artist, 1979–1986

Things to Come from Those Now Gone, 2018

Vinyl 45 and LP records, metal cart wheel, wooden circles, musical instrument parts, horse hair, tripod elements, acrylic paint, iron scrolls, metal light protector, Cinefoil, rubber strips, metal wire circles, shredded bicycle tire elements, and antique metal amplifier horn
65 × 36 × 38 in.
Courtesy of the artist

Michael Kelly Williams, Meditations, 2016. Brass bell, water glass, Cinefoil, aluminum crutch with plastic and rubber elements, wire, wrought iron scrolls, brass cymbal, and circular steel magazine rack stand. 48 × 16 × 12 in.

Meditations, 2016

Brass bell, water glass, Cinefoil, aluminum crutch with plastic and rubber elements, wire, wrought iron scrolls, brass cymbal, and circular steel magazine rack stand
48 × 16 × 12 in.
Courtesy of the artist

For Geri, 2019

Metal keys, glass beads, threaded wire, and circular mirror
21 × 15 × 15 in.
Courtesy of the artist

The works on view by Michael Kelly Williams explore themes of music, spirituality, social justice, and the material and narrative possibilities of found objects. For Williams these works represent his evolved artistic practice—deepened by the creative environment he found at the Carnival.

Williams’s years at the Carnival were formative, reverberating in the works on view made decades later. While teaching ceramic sculpture and murals at the Carnival, he formed a deep bond with Carnival executive director Betty Blayton-Taylor, noting that she “...became a mentor and a friend who encouraged me to keep reaching for higher levels in my own work.”

The two also connected through their shared interest in spirituality. Williams recalls engaging in conversations with Blayton-Taylor about the transformative possibilities of meditation, and the two even shared chanting sessions.

Things to Come from Those Now Gone is an intricate sculpture woven from found materials. The work is an homage to jazz’s musical ancestors and to future generations who will carry the tradition forward.

Meditations reflects his interest in spirituality through its assemblage of everyday objects such as a glass water jar and a brass bell, summoning the power of meditation, renewal, and sacred devotion.

For Geri is named after Williams’s friend, the renowned jazz pianist, composer, and educator Geri Allen. Inspired by Yorùbá religious shrines, Williams reinterprets these objects traditionally used to honor deities and ancestors. His personal shrine incorporates keys, which suggest memory, access to other dimensions, or a reference to Allen’s instrument of choice. Beads evoke spiritual power and protection, while the mirror suggests divine insight and portals between worlds.