Shaped by the Sea

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Colin Macnee Stewart Montgomerie George Noseworthy Heidi Oberheide Shawn O'Hagan Paul Parsons Helen Parsons Shepherd Rae Perlin Christopher Pratt Mary Pratt Barbara Pratt Wangersky Sharon Puddester William B. Ritchie Jean Claude Roy Gary Saunders Reginald Shepherd Lise Sorensen Gerald Squires Janice Udell Peter Walker Arch Williams Artworks: Page #1 Don Wright Previous artists...

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People come to see me and ask where my studio is. All I can tell them is ‘you're looking right at it – the kitchen table.' Although they call it folk art, I don't like to put a name on it because no two people paint alike. ...I like to show what the settlements looked like in olden times with the salt-box houses and fish flakes. You don't see so much of that anymore, and I think people miss it.
- Arch Williams

Excerpt from an interview in Decks Awash, August, 1974, p.16.

Arch Williams was born in Ferryland, Newfoundland, in 1908. Williams earned a living through the fishing industry until he turned 17 when he accepted a bookkeeping job with the local Southern Shore Trading Company. He later worked for the community council and was an active participant in the establishment of the Ferryland Historical Society and the Southern Shore Museum.

Williams began sketching and painting in 1970. Gerald Squires, a prominent Newfoundland artist who moved to Ferryland and taught art classes, encouraged Williams to paint. Squires also helped Williams arrange exhibitions of his work, including the first in 1974, at Memorial University Art Gallery.

Ferryland in Mourning for Dying Arts 1975 Acrylic 44 x 59 cm (38KB)

Williams painted primarily from memory but on occasion would refer to photographs of brightly coloured houses against the vibrant green hills of Ferryland and of the Southern Shore region. The paintings are not only valuable for their aesthetics but also serve as historical records of the communities they represent. They record the geography and important buildings and sites. Titles such as Ferryland a Century Ago, Wreck of the Torhamvan, and The Goodridge Premises allude to the historical component.

Williams would paint during the winter months and spend his summers busily attending to his garden and other chores.

His work can be found in the private and public collections including that of the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador; the National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of Civilization), Hull, Quebec; and Simon Fraser Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC.

Williams passed away in 1982.