Artist Ronald Williams at the opening of his exhibit at the Inverness County Centre for the Arts on Sunday.
-by Beverley Phillips
“Wow.”
That was what one art enthusiast came up and said to artist Ronald Williams at the opening of his exhibit, Ground truthing: an outside life, solitary story, collective myth, at the Inverness County Centre for the Arts (ICCA) on Sunday.
Williams is a folk artist from West Arichat. While his use of colour and detailed paintings suggest art must have been a lifelong passion, being an artist is his second career. His first career was as a forestry technician, and he spent many years working for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). However, he became disillusioned with his work there as clearcutting became widespread in the province. As one who was passionate about protecting and stewarding nature well, he felt he was no longer doing that at DNR. Indeed, he said he felt he was complicit in practices that harmed the environment. A move to the Department of Environment in a conservation role meant he started doing his dream job. “For 18 years,” he said, “I drove around the province doing fieldwork in protected areas. I hiked in the woods and noted the land use and what was there.”
Those hikes in the woods created a treasure trove of memories from which he draws upon for his art. And that art only came into being because he was looking for something to do as he recovered from knee surgery in 2016. “I started with simple stuff,”said Williams, “and I discovered I could do it. I never took a lesson. I couldn’t even draw a stick man when I started.”
In spite of that lack of training or knowledge, he clearly had a knack for it. He would show his work to friends and family, and they would encourage him to keep going.
He has chosen a unique medium in which to work – Tremclad paint, the rust protector paint you can pick up at any hardware store. “It has a limited palette,” he said. “It’s shiny, but the colours you get are just amazing. I don’t know if anyone else uses it.”
Williams’s canvases and frames are also unique, and further reflect his commitment to the environment. They come from things he finds. His canvases may once have been a tent, and the frame may be from a lobster trap.
His choices create vibrant paintings, full of life. The nature scenes detail birds, flowers, insects, fish, and mammals. They all come from a river he canoed or a forest he hiked. Each painting tells a story of a time and a place.
To hear some of those stories, Williams is giving an artist talk on June 7th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at ICCA. The exhibit runs until June 14th, and you can visit the show Tuesdays to Sundays, 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Inverness County Centre for the Arts at 16080 Highway 19, Inverness.