ON EXHIBIT
ground truthing an outside life; solitary story, collective myth
RON Williams
Ground truthing
The process of verifying abstract data collected remotely through direct, on-site observation, to confirm what is actually true. For me, that kind of truthing means returning to the terrain of a lifetime of outside chances, searching for strong, coherent expressions of my own truth, and then painting them into reality.
- Ron Williams
I paint from the cave walls. Landscapes, memories, personal history and stories. Navigating the complexities of a solitary story within the collective myth, conceptualized through the geography of an outdoor life. Notions of place, of seeing, of imagery, form and colour. Stories experiential or origin. Colourful, naïve and relatable. A magical realism.
- Ron Williams
about the artist
Born in 1956 in Red Deer, Alberta and raised in Calgary, Ron Williams has maintained a lifelong connection to Canadian landscapes. After graduating from the Maritime Forest Ranger School in Fredericton (1980), he worked in forestry and conservation roles in Alberta and Nova Scotia from 1981 to 2020. He began painting in 2016 with no formal training, developing a self-taught practice using recycled materials. His work features Tremclad rust paint applied to repurposed tent canvas stretched over salvaged window frames. Now based in West Arichat on Isle Madame, Cape Breton, Ron draws inspiration from artists such as Matisse, Homer, N.C. Wyeth, Frida Kahlo, and others.
