Artist Mark Williams seeks funds on Kickstater for caves project

Artist Mark Williams has been working for a number of years on artwork that involved images of toy soldiers, referencing the way the ideology of militarism is smuggled into generation after generation. Williams recently closed that chapter of his work and is starting a new project inspired by caves.

From an email sent out by Williams last Thursday:

I am currently at the National Speleological Society's National Conference in Lewisburg. Yesterday I went through my first real cave that is not a show cave. It was fun, beautiful, interesting, and a bit scary at times. Today I went trough another cave for a photography trip after buying a pair of boots. Caving with an old pair of shoes with little to no traction was really not a good idea. I learned a lot so all's well that ends well. Below are some photos of me in my brand new suit. The last one is me (see image below) after over four hours in the cave rolling around, crawling on my hands and knees, slithering through holes, and belly crawling through a shallow stream. The back side of the suit was just as bad and I already got a small rip in it.

"Crawling on my hands and knees, slithering through holes…" Better him than me.


Williams is looking for funding on Kickstarter for his research tour of caves. He's offering some nice premiums for backers (see image below for an example of a photograph taken and hand-colored by Williams for a $50 pledge). Williams is trying to reach a goal of $2,000 by July 27.


From Williams' Kickstarter page:

In August I will spend three weeks visiting show caves in Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee. While inside the caves I will take hundreds of digital as well as black and white film photographs and lots of video documentation. I will reference these images to make paintings, prints, drawings, watercolors, and sculptures when I return. This will be an ongoing series expected to last a few years or more and I am expecting to make some large paintings—4 x 6 feet and larger. Right now I am at the beginning and am collecting source material.

I have never been to Missouri or Arkansas and am excited to visit. Caves I plan to see in Missouri are Meremac Caverns, Fantastic Caverns, Bridal Cave, Cathedral Cave, Jacob's Cave, Onandaga Cave, Round Spring Caverns, Talking Rocks Cavern, Mark Twain Cave, Cameron Cave, and maybe Truitt's Cave if I can meet the owner as it is now closed. In Arkansas I plan to see Cosmic Cavern, Bull Shoals Caverns, Hurricane River Cave, Mystic Caverns, Onyx Cave, War Eagle Cavern, and maybe the Old Spanish Treasure Cave. Finally in Tennessee I plan to visit Cumberland Caverns, Forbidden Caverns, Tuckaleechee Caverns, Raccoon Mountain Caverns, and maybe Lost Sea. Several caves offer wild tours where you do real caving and I may do that as well. If you have any suggestions or know of any non-show caves please let me know.

If you are interested in supporting this project—and would like to get a nice piece of original artwork by Williams in the process—make a pledge at his Kickstarter page.

Mark Williams "War Is Over" show opens Thursday at Real Art Ways

Real Art Ways
56 Arbor St., Hartford, (860) 232-1006
Mark Williams: The War Is Over
Jan. 19—Apr. 1, 2012.
Opening reception during Creative Cocktail Hour: Thurs., Jan. 19, 6—8 p.m. Admission is $10/$5 Real Art Ways members.

Press release

Real Art Ways presents The War Is Over, an exhibition of brightly colored work by Mark Williams, who critiques—in the form of toy soldiers—the introduction of militarism to young children.

An opening reception on Thurs., Jan. 19, from 6—8 p.m. will be held as part of Creative Cocktail Hour, Real Art Ways' monthly third Thursday gathering. Creative Cocktail Hour is from 6—10 p.m.; admission is $10/$5 Real Art Ways members.

Artist Statement:

The War is Over started shortly after the United States
went to war with Iraq for the second time. In an era preoccupied with war and the military-industrial complex, I became interested in how war is perpetuated and glamorized to our youth. I chose to use toy soldiers, which are marketed to young children as my source material. Later on, I obscured these toys with playful objects made from Play-Doh to quell the aggression of the toy soldiers. Recently, The United States officially ended the war with Iraq and I have declared myself finished with this series of work. The war is over.

After spending his first 22 years in Ohio, Mark Williams moved to Greenwich Village in New York City to seek fame and fortune as an artist. After that didn't work out, he moved to Providence, Rhode Island and then to Connecticut where he earned his MFA from the University of Connecticut. Williams then worked for the artist Sol LeWitt and was awarded a full fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center as well as an artist fellowship grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. He has exhibited his artwork extensively throughout North America and is in several public and private collections including The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. Williams lives and works in New Haven and teaches art at Three Rivers Community College.

Friday night art opening and Christmas party at A-Space, West Cove Gallery

West Cove Studio & Gallery
30 Elm St., West Haven, (203) 966-9700
sameness-difference-variance
Emilia Dubicki: Cold Suite
Bridges, Inc.
Dec. 6, 2010—Jan. 2, 2011
Opening Reception: Fri., Dec. 10, 6—10 p.m.

Press release

sameness-difference-variance is a group exhibition at West Cove Studio & Gallery running Dec. 6, 2010—Jan. 2, 2011. Organized by Eric Litke, the exhibition brings together work by eight Connecticut artists who share an interest in serial approaches to presenting their imagery, and creates a dialogue between the traditional poles of "painting" and "photography".

Included are works by: John Bent (Web), Cham Hendon (Web), Keith Johnson (Web), Eric Litke, Jeff Ostergren (Web), Jessica Schwind (Web), Mark Williams (Web), and Robert Zott (Web). The opening reception is Fri., Dec. 10 from 6—10 p.m. Open Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m.—4 p.m. and weekdays by chance or appointment: (860) 878-5589.

Also on view will be Cold Suite, an installation of drawings by Emilia Dubicki (Web); Bridges, Inc., a photograph show curated by Harold Shapiro (Web) and other works by studio artists throughout the building.

Two openings Thursday evening at Middlesex Community College

Middlesex Community College Pegasus Gallery
100 Training Hill Road, Chapman Hall, Middletown, 1-800-818-5501
Mark Williams: Can’t We All Just get Along?
Middlesex Community College The Niche
100 Training Hill Road, Founders Hall, Middletown, 1-800-818-5501
Thanakhon Likhitlerdrat: Silken Forms
Through Jan. 6, 2011.
Opening reception, Thurs., Nov. 18, 5:30—7:30 p.m. in the Pegasus Gallery

Press release

Mark Williams’ exhibition Can’t We All Just Get Along? addresses issues of militarism introduced to children as war toys. In this series of paintings, the mock art of war is transformed into new modes of visual play. Williams’ positions colorful monolithic forms derived from Play-Doh molds to overpower heroic fixed-posed army action figures. A doughy banana cluster, frog, bear, and a roster form ride piggyback atop toy soldiers posed for action. In works like “untitled (transparent white elephant)”, only a solder’s legs, torso and rifle protrude beneath a pudgy elephant as if smothered in soft squishy amour. Williams’ work transmits a universal statement of peace and critiques the militarist theft of childhood innocence.


Williams lives in New Haven and has exhibited throughout the Northeast, Canada and Bulgaria.

Silken Forms showcases a series of recent silk covered boxes and pottery by Thanakhon Likhitlerdrat. Likhitlerdrat lives in Bangkok, Thailand where traditional arts and crafts associated with silk are highly prized cultural and economic commodities. Thai silk fabric is renowned for its complex surface luster, fine texture and intricate woven patterns. Its production and artesian training is presided over by Thai royalty as a means to preserve its exceptional quality and future practice.


The silk pottery works produce by Likhitlerdrat are at once, intimate, delicate, and electrifyingly vibrant. The finely thrown and sculpted vessels reveal and conceal their three-dimensional forms as the eye is insistently drawn back and forth between surface and form. The sumptuous and elaborately patterned silks and trim reflect light in dynamic and unexpected ways to unify their appliqué surfaces and sculptural complexity.

Likhitlerdrat studied drafting at the Institute of Technology in Bangkok and is training in silk craft practices in a Thai Government program developed to promote arts related entrepreneurship.

There will be an opening tomorrow, Thurs., Nov. 18, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the Pegasus Gallery.

Two receptions Saturday at A-Space in West Haven

A-Space at West Cove Studios
30 Elm St., West Haven, (203) 627-8030
Large Scale Drawings
May 15—Aug. 15, 2010
James Reed: Works on Paper
May 1—31, 2010.
Artists reception for both shows: Sat., May 15, 4—6 p.m.

Press release

Two exhibits open this Sat. afternoon in A-Space Gallery at West Cove Studios in West Haven.

A-Space at West Cove Studios presents an exhibition of drawings by 10 artists that explore their expression in human scale—or greater—in a variety of mediums. Works by Joseph Adolphe, Alexis Brown, Sue Bradley, Emilia Dubicki, Dorothy Powers, James Reed, Tom Stavovy, Nomi Silverman, David Taylor and Mark Williams. Large Scale Drawings will be up into August.

Also, through the end of May, check out exquisite wood cuts and chine colle prints (see image) by James Reed in his show Works on Paper.