E Colin Williams

I was born in Ryhope, UK in 1935. My father was a harness-maker who worked for the local coalmine making harnesses for the pit ponies. My relatives were coal-miners and harness-makers and though they were fine craftsmen in their own right, there was nothing in my upbringing that would have suggested a career as an artist.

The passion for creating art was there from the very beginning. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to draw and paint. I have always made sense of the landscape around me by capturing the world in paintings and drawings. Against all odds, I studied art - first in Sunderland and then at the Royal College of Art in London. I exhibited at the Royal Academy in the era of op art, pop art, abstraction, post-impressionism. The early sixties were an exciting time to be in London - the world was changing. Art was changing. It was an amazing time to be a student, to come of age as an artist. My contemporaries were people like Hockney, Frank Bowling, Derek Boshier, Ron Kitaji and Cephas Howard. Mike Pennie and Brian Hagger, Robyn Denny, Peter Phillips, Alayna Hughes, Alwyn Hughes, Ian Potts, Allan Jones.... Those were my peers. It's hard knowing a number of them have already passed away.

My first forays into prin...

Between 1952 and 1961 (with the exception of two years of compulsory military service), I studied art at the Sunderland College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London on full scholarships, graduating with a degree in Painting in 1961 and receiving the designation of ARCA (Associate of the Royal College of Art).

Please also see events as we combined events and exhibitions. Here are a few of the collections in which his work may be found:

Public:
The National Collection, Canberra, Australia
The Canadian War Museum
Alberta Art Foundation
Lord Beaverbrook Gallery, N.B.
University of Ottawa
The Banff Centre
Keyano College, Fort McMurray, Alberta
Government of the Province of Alberta
Royal Canadian Legion, Alberta Command
The Devonian Foundation

Corporate:
Royal Bank of Canada, Vancouver
Bank of Montreal, Calgary
Banque du Canadien Nationale, Montreal
Royal Trust Company, Calgary
Foothills Hospital, Calgary
Shell Canada Resources
Dome Petroleum
Petro Canada
Syncrude Canada
Nabor's Drilling
Hudson's Bay Oil And Gas
Canada City Services
Gulf Oil Canada
Canadian Superior Oil
AMOCO Canada
Chevron Canada Resources
Alberta Energy Company
Pan Canadian Petroleum
Sceptre Resources
Comstock International
SONY Canada
IBM Canada
Abitibi Paper Corporation
Alberta Government Telephones
Coca Cola Canada
Alberta Wheat Pool
Canada Safeway
Pittfield, McKay, Ross
Clarkson Gordon
Unilever, Australia

Williams' work is held in dozens of private collections in the United State...