Cy Williams Art
Welcome to my online gallery!
follow my online sketchbook on www.facebook.com /cywilliamsart
I really am happy you are here, reading this. I have been actively and seriously creating art my entire life. No matter what I have been doing, where I have been living or what my station in the world has been - I have always been creating something...
Growing up in rural Manitoba and later moving to Winnipeg and then Toronto in my teens. Early in life I travelled to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and the eastern provinces through Quebec and then I went the other direction through the prairies, into Calgary, through the mountains into BC... Vancouver and Victoria Island... I have started seeing the wonders of other cities such a New York City, Paris, Amsterdam and Venice. I have seen many things and stood in amazement and awe at the beauty that exists on our world.
I lead an amazingly interesting life.
A little bit about my past...
I attended the University of Toronto and studied Printmaking under Prof. Catherine Wild, who is now Dean of Fine Arts at Concordia in Montreal. Catherine opened up a new world for me through the printmmaking techniques and approaches she taught me and she recognized my passion for the craft by letting me work in the printmaking department at UofT as a TA my last two years. The extra access to the acid baths and presses helped my art to soar. My first recognition happened over this period when I recieved my first arts scholarship from Open Studio to study advanced printmaking techniques.
I studied Sculpture and fabrication under the very talented sculptor Prof. Robert Bower and somehow survived the infamous final years of the Spadina Sculpture Studio.
God bless its welded copper heart...
I recieved alot of direction early on from my painting techniques to collage to expression to the nature of creativity from the late Prof. David Buller. David was very influential in helping me to develop the skills I needed to express myself creatively and always be willing to step outside the box, to take risks, to put yourself out there despite acceptance or rejection but for myself. My son would sit on the floor of his office if I stopped into the studios to say hello - David would want to know why I hadn't brought my son in as well. I hope I do David's memory honour by having passed those teachings down to new generations of artists within my own instuction of the arts . David believed in me at an early time in my career when I had a hard time seeing it myself a few times. I always said if I ever got an online gallery I would help spread the word so people don't forget him. For more information see here
My final year of university I began my gallery career (Summary below)
1998 Group Show – Hart House (post-graduate work)
1998 Group Show – Agincourt Gallery
1999 Group Show – Artifact Gallery
1999 Solo Show – Sculpture/Installation - Artifact Gallery
2005 Invisible People Project – Public Sculpture / Installation project
2005 Installation Art Exhibit – St. Lawrence Market Business Improvement Association
2008 Group Show - Pantages Theatre - The Joe Wright Project
2009 Group Show – Show Gallery
2010 Solo Show – Peanut Club Gallery
2011 Featured Artist – Epilogue Arts Group – Online Arts Gallery
2012 Public Sculpture – Parkdale Business Improvement Association
2012 Group Show - Kinmount Artisan’s Market
2012 Guest Exhibitor - Fall Studio Tour in Kinmount Ontario
2013 Guest Exhibitor - Fall Studio Tour in Kinmount Ontario
2013 Group Show – Gerrard Art Space – Toronto, On
2013 Group Show – Ben Navaee Gallery – Toronto, On
2014 Group Show – Gerrard Art Space – Grandfathers – Toronto, On
2014 Group Show – The Art House – Landscape Canadiana – Toronto, On
2014 Group Show – Gerrard Art Space – A Show of Heart – Toronto, On
2014 Group Show – Gallery Hittite – Toronto, On
2014 Solo Show – Harvest Kitchen – Toronto, On
2014 Solo Show – Ben Navaee Gallery – Toronto, On
2014 Dragon Installation 1 – FIGMENT Toronto – Olympic Island -Toronto, On
2014 Group Show – Kensington Market Artist Alley
2014 Group Show – Print Gallery – Toronto, On
2014 Group Show – Kensington Market Artist Alley
2014 Dragon Installation 2 – Nuit Blanche Independent -Toronto, On
2015 Group Show - Venice Art House - Venice Italy
2015 Group Show – Gerrard Art Space – Valentines – Toronto, On
2015 Group Show – Gerrard Art Space – Spring – Toronto, On
2015 Imagined Gardens – FIGMENT Toronto – Olympic Island -Toronto, On
2015 Residency at the Venice Art House, Venice, Italy
2015 Figment Toronto Project Curator- Imaginary gardens of Waste Installation Project on Olympic Island (Recipient of Canada Heritage Honorarium) Curated by Vicki Clough .
2015 As featured on www.artslant.com/global/artists
2015 Selected to be a official City of Toronto - Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2015 10 for 10th year artist with the interactive installation “Shoes That Line The Lane” hosted by the BATA Shoe Museum. Curated by Che Kothari.
2016 Led an interactive participitory installation at Reconstructing Resiliance Symposium and Exhibition at OCAD University Show Gallery
Worth mentioning - I curated a number of number of shows (7) for the now defunct Artifact Gallery at Yonge and Bloor. Somewhere during this period I wrote,directed and designed the costumes and sets for a seven station passion-play style musical comedy entitled Tale of St Lawrence. Cast of 30 and somewhere out there in the great beyond is a digital video copy....
Over the last twenty years, my artistic practice has utilized both sculpture and mixed media painting as I have explored concepts of texture, line and mass in relation to visual aesthetics as well as use of recycled metal and other material, re-fabricated or assembled in order to illuminate old Canadian myths and allow new purpose.
Past artistic practice has focused on ghostly otherworldly imagery and surrealistic rural Canadian landscapes sublimely infused with multiple layers of textural deviations and has included approximately 240 mixed media paintings and prints, 24 smaller reclaimed metal assemblages, a number of group and solo shows and one public sculpture - mounted in Parkdale in the city of Toronto.
Within my paintings and prints, I explore complex variations on texture, color, nuances of form and layering of material to successfully illustrate my ideas and concepts to my viewing audience. I would consider this at least one of my many artistic mandates.
I use social media and public shows to build upon my exposure as a Canadian visual artist as well as involving and engaging the public to become part of the creative process through interaction on social media.
My current practice of work continues to focus on digital art, painting and sculpture as well as on participitory public installation work with a focus on upsized materials.
: )