For additional information contact: Hannah Gill, Communications Manager, 402.595.2122, hannah.gill@nebraska.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 12, 2019
Sandra Williams Exhibiting at the Governor's Residence
Exhibition dates: Wednesday, March 13 – Friday, June 7, 2019
Location: Governor's Residence, 1425 H Street, Lincoln, NE 68508
(Lincoln, Nebraska) – The Nebraska Arts Council partners with the Nebraska Governor’s Residence to display the artwork of Nebraska artist Sandra Williams on the walls of the building’s main conference room. This unique space allows civic leaders, citizens, school children, and other visitors the opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate the diversity of statewide artistic talent.
Paintings by Williams will be on display in the residence from Wednesday, March 13 through Friday, June 7, 2019. To view the exhibition schedule a tour of the Governor's Residence online two weeks in advance.
About the Exhibition:
The artist’s recent work explores illustration in cut paper. The first series features the Andean folk tale of Ukuku, The Bear Prince. The paper cut features silhouettes of plants and animals that Williams documented during her time in the Amazon. Weaving in the series features traditional Quechua patterns which symbolize the act of returning, mountains, lakes, and love. Williams was attracted to the myth because of its straightforward, open-ended nature that never forces a happy ending. It acknowledges the beauty, strangeness, sadness, and mystery of human nature and daily life. It also describes the conflict between human and animal, revealing what animals teach us about our humanity.
Williams is inspired by how animal imagery has evolved parallel to human imagery alongside human’s relationship with animals. Her subjects explore variations on the theme of ecotone, areas where two communities meet and integrate. Traditionally, the term refers to ecological communities, such as the zone where plains and desert meet the rainforest. Yet, it can also describe the zone where concepts of nature and culture intersect – where the city meets pre-existing symbolic and ecological boundaries.
About the Artist:
Sandra Williams is a mixed-media artists in painting and cut paper who received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1994 and an Master of Fine Arts from Ohio State University in 1999. Her mixed media drawings have been exhibited at SOFA New York, Ann Nathan Gallery in Chicago, the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri and National Amazon University in Puerto Maldonado, Peru. Her work is included in the Howard Tullman Collection, and the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon among others. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Museum of Contemporary Craft and with the Amazon Conservation Association in Madre de Dios, Peru. Williams has been recognized for her work in Community Arts with a Mayor’s Art Award and a Hixson-Lied Award for Outreach, Engagement and Service.
About the Nebraska Arts Council
The Nebraska Arts Council (NAC), a state agency, provides numerous grants, services and special initiatives that help sustain and promote the arts throughout Nebraska. NAC is supported by the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Nebraska Legislature and National Endowment for the Arts.
For additional information on exhibiting at the Governor’s Residence, contact Meagan Dion, Public Art and Artist Programs Specialist, (402) 595-2122, meagan.dion@nebraska.gov
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