Charles Edward Williams

The First

9" x 12"

Oil on mylar

 Charles Edward Williams is a contemporary visual artist from Georgetown, South Carolina. He holds a BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA and an MFA at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. He is inspired by the relationship between human emotion and our natural environment. He often chooses subject matter based on life experiences that have been humbling and sometimes traumatic. The psychological elements of his paintings are generated by personal and emotional responses to people, places, and things. Recent works draw inspiration from historical photography of the Civil Rights movement, and, through the use of color and gesture, offer a contemporary response to social and political issues of the past and present. Each piece orchestrates various viewpoints into a shared message of our human connectedness and commonality in order to entice viewers to explore from unfamiliar perspectives.

 ABOUT THE PIECE, $600

 Born in 1859, John Taylor Williams was one of the first African American doctors licensed in North Carolina, as well as a businessman, teacher, and diplomat representing the United States in Sierra Leone. Williams established a large medical practice and became a surgeon in charge of the Union Hospital, visiting surgeon at the Samaritan Hospital, and a member of the Board of Health of Mecklenburg County. Williams was elected to the Charlotte Board of Aldermen in 1889 and 1891. He was also a successful businessman as president of the Queen City Drug Company and with real estate and farming investments. He was a founding member of the Myers Street School and the Grace A. M. E. Zion Church, and was a director of the Mecklenburg Investment Company.