Sarah Williams

As the child of missionaries in the Philippines, Williams spent her first twelve years traveling between Manila and New Zealand, a period during which she lived with her family in thirteen different houses. The extensive travel Williams did as a child sparked in her an interest in the places between places, with the journey rather than the destination. With a broad expressive use of paint, she represents details of interiors, moments of reflection or quietude.
Sarah Williams places an emphasis on the physical process of painting. The weight and substance of paint supersedes the image in her work; paint is dragged and scraped to call attention to the material surface of each picture. Williams’ paintings are often constructed in one sitting; chance and the motions of the paint play a large part in each painting’s success. She liberally applies layer upon layer of paint; each one mixed with the previous application upon the canvas or obscured by the following action. Residues of erstwhile paintings lie dormant beneath the finished work, obscured from view.
Born
1983	Auckland
Education
2010	Master of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland.
2005	Bachelor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland.
Solo Exhibitions
2010	New work, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
2008	When a day becomes a year, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
2006	New work, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011	Flying Colours, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
	Size Up, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
2010	Collecting 101, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
2009	Seen This Century, Judith Anderson Gallery, Hastings, NZ.
	Jungle Out There, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
2008	Out of the Box, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
2006	Have a Ball, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
	Temporary conclusions, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
	Origins and Originality, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
2005	Graduating exhibition for Bachelor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, NZ.
2004	TNIAP, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland, NZ.
Awards
2007	Finalist, Wallace Art Awards, Auckland & Wellington, NZ.
Publications
2009	Seen this Century, 100 Contemporary New Zealand Artists: A Collectors Guide. Warwick Brown.  April 17, 2009