Gary artist brings exhibit to Atrium Gallery
BY TIM SHELLBERG
Times Correspondent
Merrillville’s Jeff Williams hasn’t had much downtime between his vocation and his avocations as of late.
“My schedule’s extremely hectic,” he said. “I’m usually working in my art studio until at least two o’clock in the morning, and then I’m up at six in the morning to go to work. And that’s seven days a week.”
Exhibiting more than a dozen of his works through year’s end at the Atrium Gallery at Edgewater Systems for Balanced Living in Gary, Williams, who was born and raised in Gary, has served as the executive director of the Gary Chamber of Commerce for the last nine years.
Yet Williams has also spent nearly four decades making art out of wood and metal. At Howard University in Washington D.C., he studied business and began designing wood creations simply to decorate his apartment.
But he began taking art more seriously after receiving compliments from his peers.
“People would come by and say ‘hey, what you’re doing is pretty good,'” he recalled. “And after that, I took a class in art and started selling work.”
After returning to the region upon graduating from Howard, Williams pursued art on the side, taking courses at Indiana University Northwest, Ivy Tech Community College and what is now South Shore Arts.
About six years ago, he added metal art into the mix.
“I never in a million years thought I would get out of the medium of wood,” he said. “But the challenge of taking my art in another direction, the changing and seeking new techniques and methods and applying new applications made me driven even more.”
For his exhibition at Edgewater Systems, Williams is displaying a combination of wood and metal sculptures, furniture and musical instruments that he has created over the last several months.
“I find (inspiration) in a myriad of ways; through nature, through life experience, in what I see and in what I read, and some things are just spontaneous,” he said. “This show is a combination of those things.”
For more information on Williams’ work, go to www.carpenartistry.com.
The Atrium Gallery at Edgewater Systems for Balanced Living is open to the public 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
onexhibit
Works by Jeff Williams
When: Through Dec. 31
Where: Atrium Gallery, Edgewater Systems for Balanced Living, 1100 W. 6th Ave.,
Gary
Cost: Free
FYI: (219) 885-4264
