Steve Williams

Steve Williams is a graphic artist who combines a broad range of media, including printmaking, typography, photography and 3D into original artworks and printed editions. Originally from North Wales, Williams moved to Bath, completing a postgraduate degree in printmaking at Bath School of Art & Design. Under the tuition of John Furnival, Williams began to develop a typographic style and graphic art partly influenced by Furnival’s wordscapes and concrete poetry. Williams worked as an illustrator for publishers such as Random House and HarperCollins. In 1994, he was awarded Windsor & Newton Young Watercolourist of the Year by the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. In 1996 Williams collaboratively published Fly – The Art of the Club Flyer (Thames and Hudson) which was a celebration of the best of dance club flyer designs. He also co-published Still Open – The Guide to Traditional London Shops (Black Dog) in 2005. His work on Ulysses, Ulysses Symbols – Images to Accompany James Joyce’s Ulysses was published in 2015 (Openings-Closings Press). Following a solo exhibition titled 3 Bodies of Work at the Anatomy Department of Cardiff University in 1994, Williams was invited to produce a series of images to accompany the text of James Joyce’s Ulysses, alongside artists such as Tom Phillips and John Furnival. These works were featured in several group exhibitions, and all 18 of Williams’ pieces were later showcased in a solo exhibition at Freespace Gallery in London. Williams has held multiple solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group and open shows. Notably, his work was included in Angels and Mechanics, a touring group exhibition exploring themes of fertility, which featured forty contemporary artists. The exhibition toured prominent venues including Watermans Art Centre (Middlesex), Riverside Studios (London), The Bracknell Galleries at South Hill Park Arts Centre (Bracknell), Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery (Carlisle), and Oriel Gallery at Theatre Clwyd (Wales). Williams (re)uses materials that, ordinarily would be deemed as waste or recyclable such as envelopes, commercial documents, packaging, plastics. Examples of this approach can be seen in the series, Sending You A Letter – using envelopes and postage ephemera or Alphabet which uses only found and recycled materials. The chosen materials – sometimes directly connected to the letter itself, other times purely visual – serve both as constraint and inspiration, shaping the evolving dialogue between typography, process, and chance. Williams worked as a visiting lecturer at Bath Spa University and Trowbridge College of Higher Education which funded his studio and artwork allowing him to continue to exhibit his work. In 2001 he moved to London and began a career as a Creative Director working for publishers and brands such as Burberry, Condé Nast, Elemis, EMAP, Jaeger, Mappin & Webb, Oliver Sweeney and Watches of Switzerland.