September 2013
My Turn
Ingrid Williams
My Turn
Ingrid Williams
Ingrid Williams
Ingrid Williams is a Tucson painter who works in casein. Her upcoming Portable Monsoon exhibit addresses the topic of the cultural meanings of fire and water. As Ingrid puts it, “We are water-based beings who seem to worship fire, and it’s become a problem. Portable Monsoon looks at our predicament through the striking water textures possible with casein paint.”
Williams has a call to action to protect our water. “The heart of Tucson is our aquifer of drinking water. Mining law reform must require that mines protect aquifer purity. Acres of pavement and rooftops make a heat island that repels rain. We must join Mayor Rothschild’s 10,000 trees program to raise a canopy of foliage over Tucson and keep our monsoon clouds coming…….If we focus our hearts and minds on pure, plentiful drinking water, we will create it–just like we create anything.”
Ingrid Willilams, Cycle
Williams will be joined by the Sonoran Glass School for Portable Monsoon at the Joel Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone, from October 1-31, 2013. Portable Monsoon moves to Tucson International Airport from November 1, 2013, through February, 2014 in the Upper Link Gallery.
See more of Ingrid Williams’ artwork on her website: Ingrid Williams
Learn about Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothchild’s 10,000 trees initiative which will be launched this fall at: Guest Commentary or on the Mayor’s website (coming soon).
See more of Ingrid Williams’ artwork on her website: Ingrid Williams
Learn about Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothchild’s 10,000 trees initiative which will be launched this fall at: Guest Commentary or on the Mayor’s website (coming soon).
Ingrid Williams, Still Life
Here Ingrid Williams explains her work.
Why I paint water textures in casein:
Somewhere around the year 2000, an ocean wave appeared in my studio. On a 12x14 board with white ground, I had rinsed around a cobalt blue wash expecting it to be the sky of a desertscape. Turning my back for only a minute or two, I missed how the milk proteins of the medium grabbed the mineral pigments and froze them into a blue-tinted photo of water–with all its nuance. The image only needed to be rotated 180 degrees.
I sat down with a thump.
Nowhere in the books is there much to read about casein painting, except that it an ancient medium widely used until the advent of acrylic. Casein doesn’t lend itself to shading–it likes to clump up, and it dries way too fast. Who would choose it? Who, indeed?
From that moment, I was fascinated with this water texture effect. You can make crashing waves or aerial views of the ocean from space. You can do underwater currents, bubbles rising to the surface. The whole world of water is available in casein.
I found, too, that the bigger the boards, the better they sold at the gallery in Santa Fe. Though 48x30 is about the biggest panel I can lift and juggle around to get the paint flowing and doing its tricks. Even ice is possible.
Why I paint water textures in casein:
Somewhere around the year 2000, an ocean wave appeared in my studio. On a 12x14 board with white ground, I had rinsed around a cobalt blue wash expecting it to be the sky of a desertscape. Turning my back for only a minute or two, I missed how the milk proteins of the medium grabbed the mineral pigments and froze them into a blue-tinted photo of water–with all its nuance. The image only needed to be rotated 180 degrees.
I sat down with a thump.
Nowhere in the books is there much to read about casein painting, except that it an ancient medium widely used until the advent of acrylic. Casein doesn’t lend itself to shading–it likes to clump up, and it dries way too fast. Who would choose it? Who, indeed?
From that moment, I was fascinated with this water texture effect. You can make crashing waves or aerial views of the ocean from space. You can do underwater currents, bubbles rising to the surface. The whole world of water is available in casein.
I found, too, that the bigger the boards, the better they sold at the gallery in Santa Fe. Though 48x30 is about the biggest panel I can lift and juggle around to get the paint flowing and doing its tricks. Even ice is possible.
Ingrid Williams, Rain
The show Portable Monsoon:
Currently, no puns, please, our culture is undergoing abrupt change that involves water. We have indulged a millennium-long love affair with fire, such that our temperatures are rising, ice melting, oceans rising. High-energy storms flood the land. And drinking water needs to be valued and loved. It’s what we’re made of.
As a painter with special ability to render water, I felt called to show water and fire interacting. Beginning in 2009, I designed multiple panel water/fire cycles and continued with large water texture panels. But this time, fire-engine red pipes and fittings overlay the natural element. I asked the unpredictable paint, “What is the nature of fire and water in our culture?”
The paintings are on view in Portable Monsoon, at the Tucson main library October 1-31, 2013 and airport upper link gallery November 1-February 2014. The answers to the fire/water question are in the minds of those who view the show. I’m only the painter.
Currently, no puns, please, our culture is undergoing abrupt change that involves water. We have indulged a millennium-long love affair with fire, such that our temperatures are rising, ice melting, oceans rising. High-energy storms flood the land. And drinking water needs to be valued and loved. It’s what we’re made of.
As a painter with special ability to render water, I felt called to show water and fire interacting. Beginning in 2009, I designed multiple panel water/fire cycles and continued with large water texture panels. But this time, fire-engine red pipes and fittings overlay the natural element. I asked the unpredictable paint, “What is the nature of fire and water in our culture?”
The paintings are on view in Portable Monsoon, at the Tucson main library October 1-31, 2013 and airport upper link gallery November 1-February 2014. The answers to the fire/water question are in the minds of those who view the show. I’m only the painter.
Ingrid Williams, Ark
