Escapism in Paint: Momentum Spotlight Libby Williams

Libby Williams, Tulsa

Libby Williams, Somewhere in New Mexico, Oil on Canvas, 30x28" 2011

Exploring new scales and styles of painting, Libby Williams received the Spotlight award for Momentum Tulsa. She will debut her project on October 13.

Her paintings have focused on design, color and line. Williams said, “I love discovering new colors through mixing and developing a painting around the idea of dialogue between color. My desire to explore the relationships between colors is often responsible for the complex activity that I develop in my work.”

Momentum Spotlight Artist Libby Williams at work in her studio

A current MFA student at the University of Tulsa, Williams spent much of last summer at the Chautauqua Institution in New York, painting for 12+ hours a day. While there, she painted outside, which helped transform her style for this new work. She said that painting traditional plein air landscapes affected how she paints space.

Momentum Spotlight Artist Libby Williams- detail from new painting

She has created three large canvases for her Momentum Spotlight paintings, approximately 40” tall.  Williams said she hopes each painting is “an invitation to experience my own flavor of escapism by entering into new worlds where time is irrelevant and color has a voice.”

Momentum Spotlight Artist Libby Williams (c) meeting with
curators Laura Reese & Raechell Smith

See this article in our Art Focus Oklahoma magazine for more about all three Momentum Tulsa Spotlight projects.

Momentum Tulsa opens October 13, 8-midnight with a ticketed event full of music and performances.  Curated by Raechell Smith from H & R Block Art Space at the Kansas City Art Institute and emerging curator Laura Reese, the exhibition continues at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Brady with free gallery hours through October 25.