KELLY S. WILLIAMS

kellysuzannewilliams@gmail.com

Instagram: kellyswilliams_studio

BORN in Nashville, TN currently lives and works in Nashville, TN

EDUCATION

2004    mfa painting and drawing, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

1999     BA WITH HONORS, ART, Vassar college

1998     Yale norfolk school of art

HONORS AND AWARDS

2024 visual artist-in-residence, the chelsea music festival, new york, new york

2022 Invitational Residency, Intl. Center for the Arts, Monte Castello Di Vibio, Italy

2022 New American Paintings, South Edition, #156

2019 Six paintings collected by the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies Program, American Embassy, Islamabad, Pakistan

2010 Carrell Artist in Residence, Harpeth Hall School, Nashville, TN

2009 Visiting Artist Lecture, The Frist Museum, Nashville, TN

2004 Terra Foundation for American Art’s Fellowship and Residency in Giverny, FR

2002-03 Nippon Steel Scholarships, Chicago, IL

2002-07 Artist Residencies from the Ora Lerman Charitable Trust, Laceyville, PA

2001-02 W.K. Rose Fellowship, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY

1998 Ellen Battell Stockel Fellowship, Yale University Summer School of Art, CT

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2017-19 Adjunct Faculty Member, Low Residency MFA Program, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Nashville, TN

2010-19 Independent Contractor in Production and Art Services for various print, television and video productions. Nashville, TN

2006-08 Adjunct Professor, Watkins College of Art, Nashville, TN

2004-2006 Lecturer, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Dept. of Painting and Drawing, the First Year Program, and the Dept. of Early College Program

2005-06 Adjunct Professor, The University of Wisconsin, Peck School of the Arts, Milwaukee, WI

2003-04 Teaching Assistant for Susanna Coffey and Michelle Grabner, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Dept. of Painting and Drawing

2002-04 Administrative Assistant, Graduate School Painting and Drawing Dept., The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

2000-02 Editorial Assistant, The Nashville Scene, Nashville, TN

1999 Curatorial Assistant, The Friends of Photography Museum, San Francisco, CA

1994-95 Studio Assistant, sculptor Alan LeQuire, Nashville, TN

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024 tbd, high line nine, NEW YORK CITY, NY

2024 Dancing in the Waterfall, Red Arrow Gallery, Nashville, tn

2023 Nashville Hot Summer, Red Arrow, Nashville, TN

2023 Expo Chicago, David Lusk Gallery, Chicago, IL

2022 robin, dove, swallow, thrush, site specific installations in Monte Castello di Vibio, Italy

2022 The Leftovers Show, Elephant Gallery, Nashville, TN

2022 Expo Chicago, David Lusk Gallery, Chicago, IL

2019 Beyond the Frame—Contemporary Art in the Emirates, organized by the Art in Embassies Program, U.S. Ambassador residence in Abu Dhabi, UAE

2019 With Feeling, Ground Floor Contemporary, Birmingham, AL

2018 Permanent Collection on Display, Islamabad Embassy, Pakistan

2018 In House, The Suburban, Milwaukee, WI

2018 In House, Harper Gallery, Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC

2017 American Genre: Contemporary Painting, Institute for Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, Portland, ME

2017 The Shadow’s Body, Brownlee O. Currey, Jr. Gallery at Watkins College of Art and Design, Nashville, TN

2017 Wearable Surfaces, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN

2017 The Delta Exhibition, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR

2017 The Ekphrasis Project, The Central Collective, Knoxville, TN

2016 2016 Group Show, Martine Chaisson Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2015 Botanica: All Things Plant Life, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA

2015 Flag Show, Club Roar, Nashville, TN

2013 New Works by Kelly S. Williams, The Merritt Mansion, Nashville, TN

2011 Just So, Estel Gallery, Nashville, TN

2011 The Great Poor Farm Experiment III, Waupaca, WI

2010 Home, Irvine Valley College, Irvine, CA

2008 TAG Final Show, TAG, Nashville, TN

2006 New Figurative Works, LeQuire Gallery, Nashville, TN

2006 Gambit, Twist Gallery, Nashville, TN

2004 Home Base, TAG, Nashville, TN

2005 Summer Show, Suburban, Oak Park, IL

2004 Terra Summer Artists in Residence, Musée d’art Américan, Giverny, France

2004 Nippon X, Nippon Steel Corporate Offices, Chicago, IL

2001 In Heat, The Fugitive Gallery, Nashville, TN

SELECT SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2023 Home Remedy, solo show at Belmont University, Nashville, TN

2023 Mending Things, two person at David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN

2022  Diversion, solo show at David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, TN

2018    Stars Align, solo show at David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, TN

2017    Kelly Williams, Mystic, solo show at The Suburban, Milwaukee, WI

2016    The Playbook, two-person show at DLG, Memphis, TN

2015    Life Science, two-person show at Turner Center for the Arts, Valdosta, GA

2010    Should We Have Stayed at Home and Thought of Here? Two-person show at The Marnie Sheridan Gallery, Nashville, TN

2007   Home Base, two-person show at TAG, Nashville, TN

2006 Recent Works by Kelly Williams, solo Project Row Houses, Houston, TX

2000   Kelly S. Williams New Works, two-person at Ruby Green Contemporary, TN

COLLECTIONS

Norwegian Cruise Lines

U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy, Islamabad, Pakistan

Tennessee State Courthouse, Nashville, TN

nexAir Headquarters, Memphis, TN

Thompson Hotel, Nashville, TN

Hard Rock Hotel, Cabo San Lucas

Estate of John Hughes, Lake Forest, IL

Nippon Steel Corporation, Chicago, IL

Harpeth Hall School, Nashville, TN

SELECTED PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS

Laura Hutson Hunter. “Best Trompe L’oeil Paintings: Kelly S. Williams’ Diversion at David Lusk Gallery.” Nashville Scene, Oct. 13, 2022

Laura Hutson Hunter. “Artists Talk: Kelly S. Williams on Her Painting L’Origine du Monde on Instagram.” Nashville Scene, April 21, 2022.

Cass Teague. “August Art News.” Pride Publishing Group, Aug. 11, 2022.

New American Paintings, Issue 154, June 2021.

Lily Kane. “Stars Align.” Number Inc. Magazine # 94: Summer 2018.

Joe Nolan. “Kelly S. Williams in Stars Align.” Nashville Scene, Feb. 10, 2018

American Genre: Contemporary Painting, The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, 2017. Published following the exhibition American Genre: Contemporary Painting at the Institute of Contemporary of Art at Maine College of Art, Portland, ME.

Cate McQuiad. “In Portland, taking painting to unexpected places.” The Boston Globe, Aug. 17, 2017.

MECAD. “The ICA at Maine College of Art Presents American Genre: Contemporary Painting, Curated by Michelle Grabner.” Hyperallergic, July 18, 2017.

University of Tennessee, Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts, # 10: 2017. 99.

Dean Poling. “Artist Reveals Life Science.” The Valdosta Daily Times, Dec. 20, 2015..

Joe Nolan, “Williams, Clay and Holland Shine at Wedgewood/Houston.” Nashville Scene, June 12, 2014.

Stephen Trageser. “Field Trip: Arts & Music at Wedgewood-Houston.” Nashville Scene, Sept. 9, 2013.

MiChelle Jones. “Nashville Painter Goes Back to School.” The Tennessean, 3 Jan. 2010: 8D.

Jim Ridley. “Go Here and Think of Home”. Nashville Scene, Vol: 28, No. 51, Jan 28- Feb. 3, 2010. 25.

Margaret Renkl. “Counting the Ways.” Nashville Scene, Nov. 24, 2010.

Grabner, Michelle, Brad Killam, Forrest Nash, Jason Pickleman, eds.

Can I Come Over to Your House? The First Ten Years of the Suburban. Wisconsin: Poor Farm Press, 2009

“Arts Break.” Nashville Public Television Arts Connection. Public Television Network. Nashville, TN. First aired May, 2007.

Jonathan Marx. “Fresh Air, Fresh Art.” The Tennessean, April 1, 2007: 28.

Joe Nolan. “Kelly Williams at TAG.” Nashville Scene, April 5, 2007.

Alan Bostick. “An Outsider in Her Own Life.” The Tennessean, 21 Jul. 2002: 18.

Veronica Ruff. “A Rosey Hue.” Vassar Alumnae/i Quarterly 98 [2001]: 65.

Fiona Soltes. The Tennessean, exhibition announcement with photograph, 2 Jul. 2006.