Sue Williams (born 1956 in Cornwall) is a British visual artist, trained, living and working in Wales.[1]
Early life and education
editSue Williams was born in 1956 in Redruth, Cornwall.[2] Williams studied art in Cardiff in the 1970s, later getting her Master of Arts from Cardiff College of Art (UWIC).[1]
Work
editWilliams made the news in 2009 when she was awarded £20,000 from National Lottery funds (via the Arts Council of Wales) to finance a study of cultural attitudes towards women's bottoms.[3][4] She explained to the Western Mail that the money would cover living costs while she built up a new collection of three dimensional work, which would partly consist of plaster casts of all parts of women's bodies. "My present work stems from a desire to visually explore and understand issues related to the feminine ideal - the desire to change body shape, the pressure to create perfection and to compromise a personal identity" she said.[5] Williams had been inspired by a visit to Zimbabwe, where her work had been taken down from two galleries because it portrayed women's backsides.[5]
Williams was a member of the 56 Group Wales between 2008 and 2009.[6]
In 2009 Williams visited China to study their gender politics and the dynamics of communication between men and women. She was invited back again in 2013 to take part in a touring exhibition called Open Books. The exhibition subsequently toured to Australia.[7]
Her work is represented in the collection of the University of South Wales.[8] She is currently a lecturer in fine art at University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Swansea.[7]
Recognition
editIn 2000 Williams was the recipient of the Welsh National Eisteddfod Gold Medal for Fine Art[9] and the Rootstein Hopkins Foundation Award for painting.[1] In 2005 she was one of eight shortlisted artists (the only British representative) for the second biannual Artes Mundi Prize.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Sue Williams". WalesArts. BBC Wales. 11 December 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
- ^ "Sue Williams", Artes Mundi, Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- ^ "A bum deal". The Mirror. 30 June 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
- ^ "Welsh Artist Molds Butts for Cash and Culture". Fox News. 30 June 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
- ^ a b Karen Price (11 July 2009). "Artist 'upset' at response to grant for buttock mouldings". Western Mail. Wales. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
- ^ Moore, David (2012). A Taste of the Avant-Garde: 56 Group Wales, 56 years. Brecon: Crooked Window. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-9563602-1-2.
- ^ a b Emma Geliot, ed. (Winter 2014). "An Open Mind". Culture Colony Quarterly. Cardiff: 36.
- ^ "Oriel y Bont: Museum Collection". University of South Wales. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
- ^ "Gold Medal for Fine Art". The National Eisteddfod of Wales. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
- ^ Karen Price (28 September 2005). "Behind the Artes Mundi shortlist". Wales Online. Media Wales. Retrieved 6 November 2014.