The second event I chose to attend was “Tony Williams Artist Talk – All We Cannot Forget”. This event was held by the Riffe Gallery Ohio Arts Council.
The speaker, Tony Williams is an independent self-employed Fiber Artist working with Paper and Indigo (A fiber artist is an artist who creates art using natural or synthetic fibers, such as yarn, fabric, or other materials).
Tony Williams shared his journey, inspirations, and processes from his background being born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised on the east side of Cleveland in a neighborhood called Hough on Hough Ave above the Astor Theater in the mid-60s during the Hough riots.
Tony during his talk was making an emphasis on to not frown upon an artist’s craft because that is the basis of all art, it’s craft. He doesn’t understand why art is judged by tiers, like high art/low art, and believes that there needs to be some real clarification on how we approach art.
Tony held a Q&A after the event and I wasted no time asking questions regarding his artist’s journey and he responded with it has been very interesting saying he’s done costuming, worked in the garment industry, drawing and painting, and came back, when he did he felt different and felt more expressive and connected to what he does. “It’s more than painting a pretty picture, there’s some tooth in the art that I’m creating”
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