Acquaetta Williams

Acquaetta Williams is a glassblower/sculptor whose work has evolved from her vision of women and African Images through glass into sculpture that now includes wood and metal in her latest series of Street Musicians.

Internationally and nationally educated, Ms. Williams has studied under Harvey Littleton at the University of Wisconsin and Dale Chihuly in master classes at Pilchuk in Seattle, Washington. She received an Arts International Travel Grant that included travels through Benin in West Africa to study subjects for her work and collect materials for use in her art.

National shows have included Uncommon Beauty in Common Objects: The Legacy of African-American Craft Art that included stops across the U.S. in San Diego, Dallas, Atlanta and the American Craft Museum in New York as well as the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery in Washington. From this show, Ms. Williams had a piece acquired by the American Craft Museum (now the Museum of Arts & Design) that was exhibited as part of the 40-year Retrospective of the Museum. In 1993, First lady Hillary Clinton added a commissioned Christmas tree ornament "She Is Safeguarding the Peace" to the permanent collection of the White House. The artist is proud of her inclusion in A Woman's View: Equality, Development and Peace in 1995 at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.

Acquaetta Williams has lectured across the U.S. and was the artist-in-residence at the New York Experimental Glass Workshop in 1993. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Glass Art Society and was a founding member of Glass Axis in Columbus, Ohio. She was also an Associate Member of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ibaden in Nigeria.