Artist Brenda Williams of the El Dorado Arts Council

Nov 22, 2016 02:36PM ● By David Norby

After having studied under California Impressionist Anita Wolff for over 12 years, Brenda Williams absorbed a passion for oil painting and clay, as well as teaching. Currently, the talented pastelist, clay artist and oil painter is a member of the El Dorado Arts Council and Oil Painters of America and offers classes in her Downtown Placerville studio. “My classes differ [from] most traditional college art classes, because my main focus is on art without fear,” shares Williams. “We don’t have classroom critiques or judgment about others’ art; I try and cultivate a totally supportive atmosphere.”

HLB: You lived abroad for 14 years—how did that shape you?

BW: Living in another country and experiencing cultures so vastly different from my own completely changed me. It caused me to see everything from many different perspectives, rather than just the one I grew up with. It’s impossible for me to experience things now, even new ideas, without running the experience through several different filters in my mind, in order to process it from varying viewpoints.

HLB: What effect did living overseas have on your art?

BW: It was in Dubai that my first pastel teacher, Tina Ahmed, introduced me to not only the medium but also the intriguing subject matter of life in the Middle East in the 1980s. It was an artistic paradise in many ways—with the open-air bazaars overflowing with colorful fabrics, flowing scarves and pungent spices. It was a place that intrigued all of the senses and offered so much in the way of subjects. This love of the exotic is something that influences my art to this day.

HLB: Describe the One World series you’re working on?

BW: One World explores the similarities between cultures and religions of the world. At this time on our planet, there is so much focus on our cultural and religious differences, and it’s causing a lot of hate and anger. Through my work, I try and point out the ways in which we are the same; our religions are all connected in one way or another—we all love our families and our children, and most cultures drink tea, [which] is a way of bringing people closer together. These themes are so important in my life, because I believe that if we could only see beyond our skin color and man-made belief systems, we would discover the ties that bind us together as humans.

HLB: What can students expect from one of your classes?

BW: My goal in teaching is to [not only] give students real instruction and technique, but also encourage them to develop their own style and subject of painting. It’s the same with clay. I want them to learn the basics so they’ll have success, but once the foundation is built, I want to see them come in with ideas and plans for what they want to create. My classes are small—only four at a time for painting and six for clay—[allowing me] to help people work on their own individual projects.