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R A P I D R I V E R A R T S & C U L T U R E
fine art
Constance Williams: the Artist in Movement
A
train from Charlotte
on its way to Tennessee
skirts along the French
Broad River as the last of
the day’s light slips away.
Rain falls and a steady wind has
picked up. It has been raining
since early morning.
Constance Williams once again
is working late in her studio/gallery
in the River Arts District a
mile west of Downtown Asheville.
She is painting a landscape and is
pleased with how it is taking shape.
The train passes just outside her
window. Its lonesome horn fills the
silence, reminiscent of an old Hank
Williams song. She pauses waiting
for the train to pass, and when it
finally does she reaches down and
turns on the propane torch.
Twenty-six hundred years
ago the Greeks developed a paint
medium that would not deteriorate,
not yellow or darken with age,
and would also be impervious to
moisture. They called it “enkaustikos”
(encaustic) meaning, “to burn in” and it became one
of the principal painting methods of the ancient world. It
originated when the Greeks discovered they could add pigment
to the coatings of wax and resin they already used to
weatherproof their ships. This allowed them to beautifully
decorate them in bright “fearful” colors that would not fade
during long ocean journeys.
Homer, in his epic poem The Iliad, mentioned the
painted ships of the Greek warriors who fought at Troy. It
didn’t take long for artists of the time to begin using this
new technique on panels, and although more difficult to use
and more expensive than the already popular Tempera, it
allowed them to create more “life-like” paintings because of
its glossy depth and richness of pigment.
After the decline of the Roman Empire encaustic fell
into disuse except for occasional religious paintings within
the Catholic Church and these ceased altogether after the
12th century. For the next eight hundred years it would be a
lost art. Then in the mid 1900’s because of portable electric
New Address: 9 Riverside Drive
April of 2010 will mark the two-year anniversary
of Constance Williams Studio & Gallery located at the
three-building CURVE studios and garden complex.
In February of 2010, because of her overwhelming
success as both artist and gallery owner, she will be
moving from 12 Riverside Drive next door to 9 Riverside
Drive. This will more than triple her gallery and
studio space.
The working clay studios upstairs feature Constance,
Jenny Mastin, Cassie Ryalls, Fran Welch
and Greg Vineyard. Other artists she represents are
Patty Bilbro, clay; Mystery Masiello, jewelry; Kelly
Prestwood and Cynthia Wynn, metal sculpture and
industrial steel furniture. Constance also features guest
artists throughout the year.
You will always find new works on display at
Constance Williams Studio & Gallery.
"Inspiration exists,
but it has to find us working."
~ Pablo Picasso
BY DENNIS RAY
heating implements a resurgence
of encaustic painting began. Today
it is once again taking its place as a
major artists’ medium.
For Williams this medium
with its luminous impressions and
dreamlike waxy layers that seem
at times like viewing the world on
a foggy morning is where she had
found her voice; a voice she had
been searching for her entire life.
She grew up in Bath, England,
a town of 80,000, which had also
been the home to 19th century
novelists Mary Shelly and Jane
Austin, not to mention a favorite
vacation spot for Charles Dickens,
where she (Williams) dreamed of
becoming an artist. At 18 in search
of that dream she moved to the
States to attend Tulsa University in
Oklahoma where she met her soon
to be husband “the most wonderful
charming man” who shared her love
of life. In her late 20’s she began her own greeting card company,
“Constance Williams Collection.” It like so many other
of her earlier and future endeavors proved highly successful
selling at over 400 upscale locations internationally. Only it
wasn’t what she really wanted to do. Something was missing.
“Although I designed the cards and it was a chance to
use my creativity, and I ran the company, it wasn’t what
I wanted out of life. Something more called me.” Art had
always been her life but not her livelihood. “Sometimes a
person’s calling is right there in front of them,” she says,
“but they just don’t see it through the static of daily life.”
Constance has been coming to WNC since 1984. In
2004, she and her husband bought property in Arden and
made the transition from their most recent home in Dallas.
“I had always wanted to try clay, so I took workshops at
Odyssey Center For Ceramic Arts and had a studio there. In
2007 I began encaustic painting, self-taught. I have a unique
look, and my clay work influenced my encaustic surface
design. I am often told by customers that my paintings look
like glaze effects, glass or enamel. For the first time in my
life I feel completely fulfilled.”
William’s strongest talent is perhaps her brilliant use of
color. Tides of shiny reds and greens submerge in geometric
forms in some of her abstract works while her stunning interpretation
of “trees,’’ for instance, are simply mesmerizing.
One painting she recently finished is of a North Carolina
landscape. Its foreground is a field of marvelous blossom like
yellow brushed over with dark green that stretches toward
red mountains underneath a rich blue sky.
A prolific artist, Williams begins each day at dawn and
works well into the evening six days a week. She is also now
the president of the River Arts District. She is always as her
friends say “in constant movement.”
“For me creativity is like working out,” she says.
“You’ve got to do it all the time or you’ll never get anywhere.”
Encaustic painting requires a lot of work and skill
and time. It begins with her melting the wax and resin then
blending in the pigment in a griddle on her studio table. “I
use a brush to paint the encaustic onto a panel, which lies
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horizontally on my table so the wax doesn’t run.” She has
to move swiftly with accurate strokes because the wax cools
very fast. After she applies a layer to the panel she uses the
propane torch to reheat the wax, smoothing the surface a
bit and bonding the new layer to the one below. The flame
ultimately becomes the brush which creates all the different
effects on her surfaces. Her paintings sometimes have over a
hundred layers.
Her work has been sold to people around the globe and
is highly sought out by collectors and art lovers. Her work
sells faster than she can possibly keep up with and for her
that is just fine.
It is now after seven and she knows she could finish up
tomorrow but chooses to put the final couple layers on the
painting tonight. In the distance another train approaches
from the south. Its horn is faint but loud enough to say that
it’s on its way.
Constance Williams Studio & Gallery is located at 9 Riverside
Dr., the middle building in CURVE studios and garden, across
from 12 Bones Smokehouse. Hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven
days a week. For more information phone (828) 333-3286 or
visit www.constancewilliams.net.
Vol. 13, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2010 33