biography
Judith Margaret Williams
Judith Margaret Williams is a visual and textual artist employing installation, paint, video and book media. She lives on Cortes Island, British Columbia, Canada
Born: September 14, 1940, Vancouver, B.C.
Bachelor of Arts, Carleton University, 1961
Assistant Professor Emeritus, Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, University of British Columbia
Email: info@newstarbooks.com
Web: judithmwilliams.com
Employment:
1979 – 2001 - Assistant Professor, Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, UBC.
Subjects: Painting, Drawing, Theory and Installation work. MFA candidate advisor.
Awards & Distinctions:
2014 – B.C Arts Council, Level II, Project Assistance for Creative Writers Grant for
Schnarr’s Landing.
2009 - 2010 – Ilahie Foundation, Vancouver Foundation, & B.C. Arts Council awards
for Naming and Claiming: the Creation of Bute Inletat the Cortes Island
Museum.
2007 – Clam Gardens: Aboriginal Mariculture on Canada’s West Coast
- Short listed, BC. Book Prizes: The Haig Brown Regional Award.
- Honorable Mention, B.C. Historical Society Book Awards.
1991, 1990, 1988, 1986, UBC Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grants.
1993 – BC Arts Council Award.
1967 – Canada Council Visual Arts Award.
Solo Visual Art exhibitions and museum and web installations:
2011 - 2012 - Naming and Claiming: the Creation of Bute Inlet, the Campbell River Museum and Archive.
2010- 2011 - Naming and Claiming: the Creation of Bute Inlet, the Cortes Island Museum.
2009 - “this is the story of . . .”video installation, from Salmon Stock, islandsinstitute.com
2003 - Salmon Stock, Richmond Art Gallery and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site. An action, video, wall work and symposium.
1996 - Walking To Water, installation, the Vancouver Art Gallery.
1994 - High Slack, UBC Museum of Anthropology – six-month installation.
1992 - Whose Story Is This?,the Art Gallery of Victoria.
1990 - Whose Story Is This?,the Surrey Art Gallery.
1984 - Reflection /Extension, Surrey Art Gallery and the Charles H. Scott Gallery, Emily Carr College of Art and Design, Vancouver.
Recent Group Exhibitions:
2011 – The Belkin Art Gallery, Faces: Works From the Permanent Collection. - Vancouver Art Gallery, Unreal: “The Moss is Dreaming”.
2009 – Vancouver Art in the Sixties .com, Belkin Art Gallery on line.
2008 – Idyll , The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, UBC.
2004 - Lip Service , Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. The Collection: 1973 -1983 .
Publications:
2011 - Naming and Claiming: the Creation of Bute Inlet, catalog/ map, for the Cortes Island Museum and Archives.
2006 - Clam Gardens: Aboriginal Mariculture on Canada’s West Coast, New Star Books, Transmontanus, Vancouver, 2006
2003 - Salmon Stock, catalogue, Richmond Art Gallery & Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site
2003 - Dynamite Stories, New Star Books, Transmontanus, Vancouver, May.
2001 - Two Wolves at the Dawn of Time: Kingcome Inlet Pictographs 1863-1989, New Star Books, Vancouver.
1994 – “The Tsilhgot’in War of 1864 & 1993 Cariboo-Chilcotin Justice Inquiry”, UBC Museum of Anthropology pub.
1996 - High Slack: Waddington’s Gold Road and the Bute Inlet Massacre of 1864, New Star Books, Transmontanus, Vancouver.
- Walking To Water, catalogue, Vancouver Art Gallery.
1990 - Whose Story Is This?, the Surrey Art Gallery, 1990.
Visual art in Public Collections:
Canada Council Art Bank, UBC Graduate Student Collection, Mac Lean Hunter, Vancouver City Public Collection, B.C. Cultural Services Branch, Carleton University, The Vancouver Art Gallery, & The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, UBC.
Artist’s Books:
1994 - 1861 -1864: A Likeness s, 118 p., b&w, text, UBC Museum of Anthropology.
- Water Damage, 40 p., b&w text, UBC Museum of Anthropology.
1992 - Log A ,55 p., b&w, text and photographs - Log B, 45 p., b&w, text and photos, the Surrey Art Gallery, 1992 and the UBC Museum of Anthropology, 1994
Public Collections:
Canada Council Art Bank, UBC Graduate Student Collection, Mac Lean Hunter, Vancouver City Public Collection, B.C. Cultural Services Branch, Carleton University, Vancouver Art Gallery, & Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, UBC.
Readings, presentations and workshops:
2011 – October. “The Colour of Water: new work”, Creative Waters, ECCAD, Vancouver.
- November 19. “Naming and Claiming: the Creation of Bute Inlet”, illustrated lecture, Campbell River Museum
2010 – Oysters and Ale: Readings for Literacy, excerpts from Dynamite Stories,
Cortes Island, B.C
- July/August , Paths Across the Pacific VII , Sitka Alaska, “Native Mariculture”
- August 4, Museum of Northern B.C., ‘Clam Gardens and Native Mariculture”
- April-1- 2, Oysters and Ale: Readings for Literacy, Bamfield, BC.
2009 – March - Whale Festival, Tofino and Ucleulet, “Clam Gardens”
- June – Aboriginal Day celebration, Tofino, “Clam Gardens and Native Mariculture”.
2008 – March 29 th, Society of American Archeology, session: “Directions in Shell Midden Archeology”, Vancouver
- June – “Clam Gardens and Native Mariculture”, Gabriola Island
- “Clam Gardens on Cortes Island”, Klahoose Reserve Band Hall. A joint project of the Cortes Island Museum and the Klahoose Band.
2007 – Feb 13 th, Vancouver Public Library: Clam Gardens: Aboriginal Mariculture n Canada’s West Coast, Alice McKay Room.
-April - BC Book Prizes, Northern Author Tour.
- May 5 - Campbell River Museum
- May 12 th – Seattle, a) Armchair Sailor.
b) Third Place Books.
- May 15 th– Powell River Library and Museum.
- June 14 th - Archeological Society of BC, Vancouver Museum.
2005 – March - Words On The Water, Campbell River, B.C.
2004 – Sointula. Instructor. Dynamite Storiesreading and a writing workshop, July 30.
Symposia:
2003 - Salmon Stock- Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site. Concurrent with Richmond Art Gallery/ Gulf of Georgia Cannery Museum exhibition. September.
1994 - Symposium: The Tsilhqot’in War of 1864 and the 1993 Cariboo- Chilcotin Justice Inquiry. Jointly sponsored by the UBC Museum of Anthropology and the First Nations House of Learning. Concurrent with the exhibition High Slackat the UBC Museum of Anthropology, November 19.
Selected Reviews:
2008 – “The Midden,” Vol. 40,# 4. Clam Gardens, R, Hutchings.
2007 – “Native Ingenuity”, Christopher Arnett, Literary Review of Canada, Vol. 15, Jan/Feb.
- A Passionate Curiosity The Vancouver Sun, Rebecca Wigod interview, May 19 th
- The Tyee , Crawford Kilian, Feb.8, on line.
- Geist, issue 63(/63).
2006 –: “Life’s Spectacular: Clam Gardens”, Georgia Straight, Dec21-28, Alex Varty.
Juries: 2007 - Juror, The Alan Haig Brown Award, The BC Book Prizes.
Current Activities:
Research for Schnarr’s Landing.
www.judithmwilliams.com - on line archive
The Glacier Museum.com - research for interactive, on line, visual and textual installation centered on Bute Inlet pre-history and history.
Upcoming 2014:
Feb 25th, “Clam Gardens: Aboriginal Mariculture on Canada’s West Coast”, University Women’s Club, South Delta B.C.
- April, “Rock Art: Desolation Sound North”, Cortes Island Museum and Archives.
