July Issue 2001
The Arts Council of Beaufort County, Beaufort, SC, Presents New Paintings and Sculpture by Mike Williams
The Arts Council of Beaufort County in Beaufort, SC, is featuring an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by Mike Williams entitled, Translation: Interpretations of Pritchard's Island, which will be on view at the USC-Beaufort Art Gallery through July 27.
The Arts Council's program coordinator, Sarah Van Winkle, talks to painter Mike Williams about the Pritchard's Island Artists' Retreat. Williams, a prominent Columbia, SC-based artist, was one of twelve creative folks selected for the 2001 retreat program this past February.
SVW: The Arts Council and the USCB Center for Coastal Ecology have been developing an artists' retreat on Pritchard's Island as a way for artists to discover new metaphors, inhabit new worlds, and get away from the demands of a more modern environment. How did your experience on Pritchard's Island influence your creative process and the development of new paintings?
MW: As a naturalist artist, you can't spend enough time observing the natural world. My most valuable resource, in the creative process, is to be able to see, feel and experience nature first hand. It allows me to freshen the information that I have accumulated in my mind's eye over the course of my career as an artist and influences my on-going development as a painter. Pritchard's Island is one of the most remote places on the coast of South Carolina that I have ever been to, and the Arts Council's retreat is an extraordinary idea. The ability to interact so closely with the animals, the Atlantic, and the maritime forest allowed me the opportunity to focus. There were no distractions from looking, thinking and working. The work that resulted from my stay at Pritchard's is, for that reason, much more focused and intense. There is a unique feeling that happens when an artist works from direct observations, and it really comes through in this collection of work from Pritchard's Island.
SVW: There aren't many pristine barrier islands left in South Carolina. What effect did the remoteness of the island, and its primitive surroundings, have on your work?
MW: People can't fully appreciate their environment until they remove themselves from the sounds and distractions of modern life. That's part of the allure of the Arts Council's retreat. It provides a setting, removed from the trappings of civilization, and a place to liberate creativity. Pritchard's Island is a remote enough spot that things such as the sound of the ocean, the wind whispering in the palm fronds, and animals slipping through the woods around you, can be appreciated. They can be revealed and discovered. Occasionally you can hear an airplane, or spot a condo development a few miles away on Fripp Island, but otherwise it is simply man and nature. There is a different kind of communion in these situations, an elevation of the senses that cannot be found in the modern world. It is similar to seeing animals in a zoo and then in the wild...you just don't feel as connected to nature or the world when seeing animals in captivity. The remoteness really allowed me to completely connect with nature and focus on my work. and that takes an island as special as Pritchard's.
SVW: Now that you're back in the real world, how do you feel about your experience with the Pritchard's Island Artist Retreat?
It was an outstanding program...I don't even
know how it could be improved. The educational aspect was amazing,
and Lynn Corliss and the USCB Center for Coastal Ecology are doing
amazing work on sea turtles, marine biology and ecosystems. I
can never know enough about nature, and the guided walks and lectures
provided by Lynn, Ginger and the other naturalists really helped
with that. All of the artists went away feeling well informed
about the island and connected to its environments. Other than
that, it was great to be removed from the distractions of day-to-day
life for an entire week. I enjoyed meeting all the other creative
folks who participated in the retreat. And the days of solitude
offered a solid block of time to create this new work.
SVW: How do you feel about your experience at the Pritchard's
Island Artist Retreat?
MW: It was an outstanding program, I don't even know how it could be improved. The educational aspect was amazing. I can never know enough about nature and the naturalists on hand really helped with that. I feel like I am now really well informed about the island and its environments. Other than that, it was great to be removed from the distractions of day-to-day life for an entire week; to have a solid block of time to create my work.
Information and application material for the
2002 Pritchard's Island Artists' Retreat, schedueld for April
2002, is now availbale from the Arts Council of Beaufort County.
Call the arts council at 843/521-4144 or check them out on the
web at (http://beaufortarts.com).
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
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