Deshia Williams is a multimedia artist working in Richmond, VA. See her work in her studio at Art Works.

“My brain interprets the world in high contrast. I am especially aware of this because my visual perception was altered when I suffered a head injury in 2010. This constantly observable change brought me to a novel view of the visual world and art making. It was near this time that I began sketching and logging art ideas. I was again artistically inspired upon seeing Picasso’s Violin, shown at the VMFA. This relief’s color and accessible scale inspired me to begin sculpting my own sketches.

My work involves the application of paint to transparent surfaces, which are then transformed by the addition of variable lights. Illustrating how light changes surface perception is my aspiration. The way light changes the surface of an object fascinates me. Transparency is an important part of my work because it is only through differing approaches that we can fully see an object. Variable views expand the potential of an object to tell a more complete story or relate a fuller meaning.

I am currently exploring materials and techniques that can help me articulate my ideas in effective ways. I use plexiglass, acrylics and LED lighting and presentation and mounting experimentation. Looking at artists such as Dale Chihuly, James Turrell and Robert Irwin keeps me interested in moving toward more investigations into the innumerable combinations that can be seen when blending light and transparent materials.”