Charles Edward Williams is a contemporary visual artist whose interdisciplinary practice investigates themes of identity, memory, spirituality, and social belonging. A native of South Carolina, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design and a Master of Fine Arts from theUniversity of North Carolina at Greensboro. His professional development includes artist residencies at Otis College of Art and Design, SOMA in Mexico City, the Gibbes Museum of Art, and the McColl Center for Art + Innovation.
Williams has presented the traveling solo exhibitions Sun + Light, Warm Water, and Swim at museums and galleries throughout the United States. His work has been exhibited at institutions including the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art, Gibbes Museum of Art, Cameron Art Museum, SECCA, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and Knoxville Museum of Art. He has also participated in major international art fairs, including Aqua Art Fair and SCOPE during Art Basel Miami Beach, as well as the Texas Contemporary Art Fair.
His work has been featured in national and international group exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, Kunstraum Potsdam (Germany), the Barnes Foundation in collaboration with the Rush Arts Foundation, and Post Collapse Art (Switzerland). Williams’ practice has received critical attention through scholarly publications and media, including African American Literature in Transition (Cambridge University Press), The Washington Post, NPR, Hyperallergic, the Cucalorus Film Festival, Fox News, and South Carolina ETV (PBS).
During his residency at the Pike School of Art, Williams developed FORWARD, a community-engaged initiative supported in part by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Ruth Foundation for the Arts. His work is held in the permanent collections of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Gibbes Museum of Art, Georgia Museum of Art, Knoxville Museum of Art, Delaware Art Museum, Mississippi Museum of Art, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, and the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art. In recognition of his sustained contributions to arts-based community engagement, Williams received the Riley Institute Diversity Leadership Award from the State of South Carolina.
Williams has presented the traveling solo exhibitions Sun + Light, Warm Water, and Swim at museums and galleries throughout the United States. His work has been exhibited at institutions including the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art, Gibbes Museum of Art, Cameron Art Museum, SECCA, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and Knoxville Museum of Art. He has also participated in major international art fairs, including Aqua Art Fair and SCOPE during Art Basel Miami Beach, as well as the Texas Contemporary Art Fair.
His work has been featured in national and international group exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, Kunstraum Potsdam (Germany), the Barnes Foundation in collaboration with the Rush Arts Foundation, and Post Collapse Art (Switzerland). Williams’ practice has received critical attention through scholarly publications and media, including African American Literature in Transition (Cambridge University Press), The Washington Post, NPR, Hyperallergic, the Cucalorus Film Festival, Fox News, and South Carolina ETV (PBS).
During his residency at the Pike School of Art, Williams developed FORWARD, a community-engaged initiative supported in part by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Ruth Foundation for the Arts. His work is held in the permanent collections of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Gibbes Museum of Art, Georgia Museum of Art, Knoxville Museum of Art, Delaware Art Museum, Mississippi Museum of Art, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, and the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art. In recognition of his sustained contributions to arts-based community engagement, Williams received the Riley Institute Diversity Leadership Award from the State of South Carolina.