September/October 2011 Cover Artist
A Precarious Balance
by Kelly Williams
Inside Places (on the cover of New Connexion) is one image in a series of encaustic paintings exploring my internal reflections. It is a vulnerable self portrait layered and buried in the wax, and then hit with open flame to crack the skin and distort my boundaries.
The space is distinctly divided to represent the internal split with which I struggle. The circles symbolize the many areas of my life that are in a constant, precarious balance and circulation, some weighing heavily.
My work is often an allegorical narrative — expressing experiences past, present struggles and joys, as well as future hopes and visions. I’m fascinated with paradoxes and exploring symbols with diverse and often conflicting subtext, which inspires paintings that are a progression of disentanglement, a weaving of a secret language, layer by layer. It is only upon coming closer and becoming intimate does one experience the deep textures, subtle imagery and imperfections that make up the whole.
Painting with encaustic wax and fire has a cathartic effect when working out deep and layered ideas, emotions and experiences, inevitably leading to a visceral form of truth telling.
Kelly Williams is a Portland-based artist who is actively involved in the community, including Recovery Panes, which is a community grant project exploring the impact of addiction by featuring small paintings by individuals combined together in a large installation. She teaches classes on using encaustic painting as a cathartic medium, as well as other technique workshops. See Williams in action during Portland Open Studios on the second and third weekend in October. Visit www.kellywilliamsart.com.