Beth Williams
http://bethwilliamspastels.squarespace.com/
Beth Williams is an award-winning artist and Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America, who served as the 2019 Artist in Residence at the Dry Tortugas National Park. Beth earned Fine Arts and Bachelors of Science degrees in Art Education from Texas Tech University, teaching art for private and public schools, as well as for art museums across the country and abroad. She began painting full time in 2009, pursuing a career in fine art landscape painting. Her work has been featured in The Pastel Journal's Pastel 100 competition in both 2018 and 2019, as well as in One King's Lane, Charleston Garden and Gun Jubilee, Charleston Style and Design Magazine, Charleston Art Mag, and in the summer 2020 issue of Parks and Travel Magazine.
She has exhibited in the annual juried Piccolo Spoleto Art Exhibit in Charleston, SC, 2014-18. As of 2019 she is a juried member of the National Association of Women Artists.
Beth's work focuses on the diverse sea island landscapes that surround her home studio on Edisto Island, SC. She prefers to begin her paintings outdoors, observing nature and the fleeting light effects on color, shape and texture in the landscape. Her marsh and dunes scenes have been described as sweeping, soulful and intuitive. Especially notable are her recent explorations in technique focusing on movement and textural quality of tidal and ocean waves.
Most recently, Beth has initiated a flame series that tempts the eye with the mystery of fire. The initial installment of the series sold out within two hours of its offering.
Though currently expanding into oil, Beth's medium of choice is pastel, which she prefers for its rich, luminous color and velvety finish, allowing her to capture a strong atmospheric quality in her landscapes. She reveres pastel for its pure color permanence and flexibility to work in wet or dry technique, as well as allowing her to paint or draw simultaneously on the same surface. She is an avid reader of art history and her work has been influenced by noted landscape painters Edgar Payne, Wolf Kahn and Winslow Homer.
You can find Beth's work in the Charleston Artist Collective gallery and at With These Hands gallery on Edisto Island, SC. Beth can also be found at bethwilliamspastels.squarespace.com, on Instagram @bethewilliamsart and on Facebook @Beth Williams Fine Art.
