Lane Williams

Artist Statement

     My portfolio focuses on the different ways people find comfort in difficult times. My sustained investigation was guided by these inquiries: In what way do people find solace during hard times? How does nature reflect hope? The focus of my investigation evolved with each work. At first, I focused more on using specific flowers and colors to represent human emotion. After a couple of works, I started to notice a pattern of color and light being brought to dark spaces, and my focus shifted to that. My work titled “Constantia” was where I had a more firm grasp on the essence of my portfolio. I knew I wanted to draw the hands to represent people holding fast to one another in hardship, and I painted irises in the background to represent courage and hope. This work guided my questions to be more about hope and resilience. 

     In my works, I often use pencil to show negative emotions a person might be feeling, paired with different mediums of color to show how light is brought to that darkness. Most of my portfolio involves flowers and other nature bringing this solace and brightness to people, as I have always been comforted by the beauty of nature. I use embroidery in many of my works to make these flowers and brighter colors stand out. Many of my pieces also have classical undertones, either from the Roman statues they are based on, poems or phrases worked into the art, or a Latin title; I hope this shows that the broad theme of hope in hardship is a universal theme that has been important to humans forever, even showing up in statues that are thousands of years old. I really enjoyed bringing life back into statues and ‘gray’ people with different things to light them up, whether it be flowers, animals, family, or stars.