Fred Williams

My inspiration comes from the world around me; a place’s story told through physical materials and the natural elements that make up a location. I want viewers to experience my work, for them to feel instinctively and grasp the stories within the materiality and elementalism of the pieces. I believe that we are dangerously distant from the physical world around us. I plan to use art as a catalyst for change. I will have succeeded if my practice gives people a second thought, a momentary re-evaluation of the natural world we occupy as the first, essential step toward reconnection.

I want to create art that seeks understanding of the societal issues we face and offers a pathway to address them. So here is my statement of principles:

Art for societal change

It must seek to understand the challenges we face and to help provide a solution. Ideally it should inspire viewer complicity in the quest for answers.

Outrospection

The art itself should be outward looking and encourage the viewer to think beyond the self, instead to think about and connect with the context in which the self exists. After all, we are also such stuff as the world is made of.

Authenticity and harmony

The work must true to the place in which it is birthed. It should be the unique consequence of the time and place in which it is created, and must contain at least one element - physical or spiritual - particular to that place.

Materiality

The corollary to the previous point. In my view, materiality is an essential component in the quest for authenticity and to ensure work is rooted in place.

Joy

In creation, in the beholding and in the celebration of artistic and craft skills. The act of making matters.