Featured photo: Bernard Williams. Image courtesy the artist.
Flint, MI—MW Gallery will welcome painter, sculptor, installation artist and public artist Bernard Williams for an Artist Talk on November 8, 2025. In this program, Williams will present a selection of works from his many years of creativity and discovery, and discuss his experiences as an artist today.
About the Program Chicago artist Bernard Williams embraces a wide range of art formats for the expression of his interests and concerns. The artist has described his practice in these words:
“Cultural convergence and expansive world views are major themes within the architectural structures, figure sculpture, paintings, and singular hybrid sculptures I build. I seek to insert personal biographical elements along with aspects of mass culture (advertising, fashion, sports, comics, television, and movies). My works attempt to address our connections and disconnections within a turbulent human history. Not all the signs and images used are clearly identifiable or penetrable. My formal and conceptual practices involve the gestures of collecting, repositioning, or reshaping existing objects for new interpretations. I seek to develop works and perform actions which share a very specific attitude and atmosphere rather than a clearly identifiable style.”
His most recognized body of work, Buffalo Chart, an example of which is on view now at MW Gallery, layers cultural signs and symbols, involving Native American, Hispanic, African, European, Asian and Arabic signifiers, to address cultural differences while addressing modern social issues.
Installation view of “This Bitter Earth: Living in Harmony with Nature” at MW Gallery. Bernard Williams’ artwork “Buffalo Chart” can be seen on the right. Image courtesy of the Mott-Warsh Collection.
Artist Talk: Bernard Williams will take place on Saturday, November 8th, 2025, 2:00pm at MW Gallery, located at 815 S. Saginaw St., Flint, MI 48502. Gallery entrance is on E. Court St. This event is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays 11:00am – 6:00pm; Saturdays 11:00am – 5:00pm; and the 2nd Friday of each month 11:00am – 9:00pm for Flint ARTWALK. Please call (810) 835-4900 or visit http://www.m-wc.org for more information.
About the Artist Bernard Williams is an established artist based in Chicago, IL. He holds a BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MFA from Northwestern University. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S., and has been represented by the N’Namdi Gallery in Detroit, the Thomas McCormick Gallery in Chicago and the Ethan Cohen Gallery in New York. The artist began painting outdoor murals in the early 1990’s with the Chicago Public Art Group. While continuing with CPAG, Williams has added outdoor sculpture to his practice. He has created several outdoor steel sculptures in Chicago and completed the Black Tractor Project at the Arts Club of Chicago in 2019. In November 2020-May 2021, he debuted a large sculptural work in the Long Dream group exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Williams has won two significant outdoor commissions: The Naomi Anderson installation for Michigan City, Indiana in 2021, and a large steel sculpture installed at Nate Manilow Sculpture Park at Governor’s State University in University Park, IL, in 2023.
About the Exhibit This program is presented in conjunction with MW Gallery’s exhibition This Bitter Earth: Living in Harmony with Nature, on view September 12, 2025 through January 24, 2026, which features Williams’ installation artwork Buffalo Chart. This exhibit features artworks from the Mott-Warsh Collection that reflect on humanity’s complex relationship with our natural world, and with one another. Along with Bernard Williams, featured artists include Ron Adams, Bisa Butler, Nanette Carter, Nick Cave, Emilio Cruz, Maren Hassinger, Pope.L, Howardena Pindell and Angelbert Metoyer.
About MW Gallery and the Mott Warsh Collection MW Gallery is the permanent home of the Mott-Warsh Collection (MWC)—a privately owned, publicly shared fine art collection that comprises over 1100 works by artists of the African diaspora and those who reflect on it. The gallery features expansive exhibitions drawn from the collection and facilitates community engagement with art through its programs.
The MWC was established by Maryanne Mott and her late husband Herman Warsh in 2001. Their primary intent was to bring art into non-traditional venues where it could be encountered by people as they went about their daily lives. They formed community partnerships with institutions that had an interest in making the collection visible to their memberships, clients, visitors and participants. Today, rotating exhibits of MWC artworks can be found in the public library, churches, health clinics, colleges, universities and more in the greater Flint region. The collection also lends to internationally and nationally touring museum exhibitions.
Installation view of “This Bitter Earth: Living in Harmony with Nature” at MW Gallery. Image courtesy of the Mott-Warsh Collection.
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