June Kelly Gallery


Philemona Williamson Bio

Recent Paintings by Philemona Williamson, visual conundrums intrigue with depictions of the edginess of curiosity, imagination, and present-day actuality.  The exhibition will open at the June Kelly Gallery, 166 Mercer Street, on April 8 and will remain on view until May 10.

            Williamson, longtime fascinated with the phenomenon of pubertal development and its inevitable progression toward adulthood, fittingly portrays accompanying emotional stages – ambiguity, uncertainty, vulnerability.

In this body of work, Williamson’s fabled energetic adolescent figures, yet raw with instinct, in throes of tension, in pause of wonder, on precipice of hesitancy, are joined with subjects appearing older, reflective of solemnity and awareness beyond immediacy of themselves.

Implications of the border between innocence and awareness, between pubescent youth and adolescent maturity blur (Cradle, 2021).  Williamson is not hesitant in depicting vulnerability of the adolescent. She conveys pensiveness grappling with alienation and curiosity, amid commonplace tempests in the growth to maturity.

Capturing the complexity of moments in light of enormous social significance, Williamson draws attention to fragility.  Sacrificing transparency, each of her encounters intrigue with a sensual urgency, opening the scope of her paintings to the wider world.  The narratives cannot be understood as single acts alone for she depicts existence in uncertain terms, subject to forces beyond control unearthing place in scheme of history -- and destiny.

Williamson writes, “This series of paintings represents my continuing exploration of figures embodied in interpreted environments, with psychological and metaphorical consequences.                                                   

Reflection, reevaluation, and renewal have defined recent years as the quiet in my studio expands beyond the uncertainty of life. Uninterrupted looking and thinking during the pandemic revealed sources and inspirations found in the gestural quality of Indian miniature paintings. Small gestures—the turn of a hand or a profile—set up a cycle of figurative relationships. Paintings are constructed with limbs akimbo, conveying the precarious nature of transitional movements and moments.

These adolescents are informed and challenged by the external events we encounter and try to make sense of as individuals and as a community.  The paintings grapple with the struggle and promise of holding onto relationships because these bonds help you to survive. They explore the otherness and redefining of the self.  The figures command the front of the picture plane, demanding to be seen. Apparent vulnerability is counterbalanced by the unexpected steadiness in taking an awkward stance.  The paintings reflect my experience of transition; how one’s life takes a turn and a twist, and what we must hold dear amidst the tumult.”

Williamson, a native New Yorker, received a bachelor's degree from Bennington College and a master’s degree in painting from New York University. Among her awards are a Joan Mitchell Foundation grant, Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2017, a retrospective, Philemona Williamson: Metaphorical Narratives, organized by Montclair Art Museum, NJ, with catalogue and essay by chief curator Gail Stavitsky. Her work has been shown in many one-person and group exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad, including the IV Bienal International de Pintura en Cuenca, Ecuador, in 1994. She is represented in numerous private and public collections, including The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina; Hampton University Museum, VA; Sheldon Art Museum, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, and AT&T.

 

Born in New York
Lives and works in Upper Montclair, NJ

Education
1979 MA, New York University, NY
1973 BA, Bennington College, VT

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Recent Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
2021 Paintings from the Studio, The David Teiger Gallery for the Studio Arts, Elizabeth B. McGraw
  Arts Center, June Kelly Livingston, NJ
Entangled in Truth, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA; catalogue
Paradise Island, Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York
Barbara Friedman and Philemona Williamson, Octavia Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2019 Fractured Memories: The Art of Philemona Williamson, Hartwick College, Foreman Gallery,
  Oneonta, NY
2018 Drumthwacket, Governor’s Residence, Trenton, NJ
2017 Hovering Tales: New Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
Philemona Williamson: Metaphorical Narratives, essay by chief curator Gail Stavitsky,
  retrospective, Montclair Art Museum, NJ; catalogue
Ashé in the Art of Philemona Williamson, The Beautiful Somewhere: The Art of Philemona
  Williamson
, curator and essayist, Arturo Lindsay, The Robert and Sallie Brown Gallery and
  Museum, the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, University of North
  Carolina at Chapel Hill; brochure
2015 Black & Colored: Recent Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
2013 Philemona Williamson: New Works, Delaware Center For The Contemporary Art,
  Wilmington, DE
2012 Philemona Williamson: New Work, Center for the Arts, Holtzman Gallery, Townson
  University, MD; catalogue
2010 Fractured Tales, June Kelly Gallery, New York
2009 Philemona Williamson Exhibition, curated by Bertha Gutman, Delaware County Community
  College, Media, PA; brochure
2008 Sudden Passage, essay by Cynthia Nadelman, June Kelly Gallery, New York
2006 New Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
2003 New Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York; catalogue
2001 Philemona Williamson, curated by Catherine Bernard, Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, College at
  Old Westbury, New York
2000 New Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
1999 Time and Memory: Paintings by Philemona Williamson, John Michael Kohler Arts Center,
  Sheboygan, WI
1998 Recent Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
1995 New Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
1994 Philemona Williamson: Fables and Fantasies, Hypo-Bank, New York ; catalogue
1993 Inaugural Exhibition, Flushing Council on Culture & Arts, New York
Selected Paintings
, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
1992 New Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
Powers Art Gallery, East Stroudsburg University, PA
1991 African American Museum, Hempstead, New York
1990

Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
Fine Arts Gallery, Southampton College of Long Island University, Southampton,
  New York

1989 Wenger Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1988 Philemona Williamson: Recent Paintings, The Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York

Selected Group Exhibitions
2019-20 SALLY…An Interdisciplinary Exhibition, project curators: Sasha Chavchavadze and Joanne
  McFarland, The Old Stone House & Washington Park Artpoetica Project Space The
  Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, Brooklyn, NY; catalogue
2017 Celebrating 30 Years, Gallery Artists: Drawings and Photographs, June Kelly Gallery, New York
Painting My Personal Journey, Kalamazoo Art Institute, Flint, MI
Converging Voices: Gender and Identity, Hofstra University Museum, Hempstead, NY
2016 Recharging the Image: Selections from the Mott-Warsh Collection, The Visual Arts Center,
  Summit, NJ
Visions of Our 44th President Barak Obama, traveling exhibition, organized by Charles H.
  Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI
2010 Shrew'd: The Smart and Sassy Survey of American Women Artists, curated by Sharon Kennedy,
  Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE; catalogue
Children’s Pleasures: American Celebrations of Childhood, curated by Dr. Donna Barnes, Hofstra
  University Museum, Hempstead, NY; catalogue
2009-12 A Complex Weave: Women and Identity in Contemporary Art, organized by Rutgers-Camden
  Center for the Arts and co-curated by Dr. Martin Rosenberg, Rutgers University and Dr. J.
  Susan Isaacs, Towson University; catalogue. The exhibition will travel nationally
  under the auspices of the Curatorial Assistance Exhibition and Art Services.
2007 Crossing the Line: African American Artists in the Jacqueline Bradley and Clarence Otis, Jr.
  Collection
, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, FL; catalogue
2005 Five Contemporary Voices in A New Space, curated by Bianca Dorsey of the June Kelly
  Gallery, Delta Arts Center, Winston-Salem, NC; brochure
2004 A Universe of Art, organized by Corporate Art Directions, Credit Suisse First Boston,
  New York
Unveiling the Image: Multicultural Women Artists, curated by Nancy Cohen and Denise
  Call, New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, Summit, NJ; catalogue
2003 Growing Up: Childhood in American and Native American Art, Montclair Art Museum, NJ
2000 Collector’s Choice II: Contemporary Art from Central Florida Collections, Orlando Museum of
  Art, FL; catalogue
1999 Drawing in the Present Tense, curated by George Negroponte and Roger Sheperd, Arnold
  and Sheila Aronson Gallery, Parsons School of Design, New York, traveling exhibition;
  catalogue
1998 Postcards from Black America, curated by Rob Perrée, De Beyerd, Center for Contemporary
  Art in Breda, Netherlands, and the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands; catalogue
Walk the Walk: Mentoring Youth in Art, Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO;
  brochure
1997 Women In Full Effect, curated by Nanette Carter, sponsored by RUSH Philanthropic Art
  Foundation, New York
1996 Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists, Inaugural
  exhibition curated by Dr. Jontyle Robinson, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art,
  Atlanta, GA. Other venues: Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN; Polk Museum of
  Art, Lakeland, FL; The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA; African American Museum,
  Dallas, TX; Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN, and the Ulrich Museum of
  Art, Wichita, KS, catalogue
Real: Figurative Narratives in Contemporary African-American Art
, curated by Amy
  Cappellazzo, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL
The Boat, Object and Metaphor, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, NY, and the Rubelle and Norman
  Schafler Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Other Agendas, Kingsborough Community College Art Gallery of CUNY, Brooklyn, NY
1994 Current Identities: Recent Paintings in the United States, 1994 Cuenca International Bienal of
  Painting, Ecuador, organized by Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ
1992 Present Tense, UWM Fine Arts Gallery, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
1991 In the Looking Glass: Contemporary Narrative Painting, The Mint Museum, Charlotte,
  North Carolina
1988 Alice And Look Who Else Through the Looking Glass, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, New York

Public and Corporate Collections
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
Hampton University Museum, VA
Sheldon Art Museum, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Smith College Museum of Art, North Hampton, MA
Mott-Warsh Art Collection, Flint MI
AT&T, NJ
Reader's Digest, Pleasantville, NY

Special Projects/Commissions
2020 Nelson, Marilyn, (author), Philemona Williamson (illustrator), “Lubaya’s Quiet Roar,”
  Dial Books
2016 Poetry in Motion, MTA Arts & Design, New York
2015 Visions of Our 44th President Barak Obama, bust, Charles H. Wright Museum of African
  American History, Detroit, MI
2006 -2007 Seasons, Faceted Glass, commissioned by the MTA-Art in Transit, Livonia Station,
  Brooklyn, NY
2003-2004 Folktales From Around the World, four glass mosaic murals, 6 feet x 15 feet & 6 feet x 8 feet,
  commissioned by the New York State School Construction Authority and the New York
  City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program
1999 Art in Embassy Program, US State Department, Madagascar

Grants and Awards
2022 Philemona Williamson received a 2022 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the
  Arts
2015 Artists-in-Residence Program, Joan Mitchell Center, New Orleans
2008 Bau Institute, two-week residency , Otranto, Italy
1997 Joan Mitchell Foundation Award in Painting , New York
1993- 1994 Ludwig Vogelstein Grant, New York
1994 MTA Arts & Design Poster Commission, Union Square Station, New York
1991 New York Foundation for the Arts, Fellowship in Painting
1989- 1990 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York
1988 AIM, Artist in the Marketplace program, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York Artists
  Space, Exhibition Grant, New York
1987- 1988 National Endowment for the Arts , Fellowship in Painting , Washington, DC
1983 The Millay Colony for the Arts, Artist-in-Residence, Austerlitz, NY

Lectures
2021 fall Lecturer and Visiting Artist, Sarah Lawrence College, New York
Lecturer and Visiting Artist, Adelphi University, Long Island, NY
2019 Talk, “Painting My Personal Journey,” Kalamazoo Art Institute, Flint, MI
2016 Keynote Speaker, Art Educators of New Jersey, Long Branch, NJ
2014 winter Visiting Lecturer, Art Department, Pace University, New York
2014 fall Visiting Artist, Lecturer and Critique, Graduate painting class, Pratt University, New York
2012 Talk, Philemona Williamson: New Work, Center for the Arts, Holtzman Gallery, Towson
  University, Towson, MD; catalogue
2015 winter Visiting Lecturer, Contemporary Art, Pace University, New York
2014 fall Visiting Artist, Lecturer and Critique, Graduate painting class, Pratt University, New York
2012 “Gallery Talk,” Center for the Arts, Holtzman Gallery, Towson University, Towson, MD;
  catalogue
2005 “Gallery Talk,” Delta Arts Center, Winston-Salem, NC
2000 “Creating Art: Conversation with African-American Artists at
The Montclair Art Museum,” Sunday, March 26

Teaching/Consulting Assignments
2018-2020 Lesley University, MFA-New Artists, Cambridge, MA
2017-present Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2016-present Visiting Professor, Narrative Painting, Hunter College, New York
2015 Guest Lecturer, Contemporary Art Class, Pace University, New York
2014 Guest Lecturer, Graduate painting Class, Pratt University, New York
2007-2012 School of Visual Arts, Drawing and painting, New York
2003-2016 Instructor, “Doing Art Together,” Instructor, Throughout the Metropolitan Area, New York
1994-1996 Panelist, New York State Council on the Arts/Visual Arts Panelist
1994 Visiting Artist, Parsons School of Design/Visiting Artist/MFA Program, New York
1992 Juror, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts/Juror/Art Fellowships
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill/Visiting Artist
1991-1992 Cooper Union/Adjunct Faculty/Freshman Foundation Painting, New York
1991-1992 Parsons School of Design/Adjunct Faculty/Freshman Foundation Drawing, New York
1991 Bard College/Painting Faculty/Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, NY
1990 Flushing Council on Culture & Arts, NY/Panelist, Artist Colonies Seminar
National Endowment for the Arts/Panelist/Services to the Arts/Artist Communities Panel
1989- 1998 The Getty Center for Education in the Arts/Advisory Board
1989-1990 Rhode Island School of Design/Adjunct Faculty/Freshman Foundation Drawing

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