JCAM, Vol. 6, No. 1
Alei Williams What is your professional name? Where were you born and does that place still influence you? Where do you live now and how does that place influence you? Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making and how do they make a difference in your life? My professional name is Alei Williams. I was born on Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. It does not influence my work or myself. I was born there and then continued to travel a lot due to my father being a service member in the Army. I currently live in Fayetteville, North Carolina. This place influences me because I am surrounded by a variety of different cultures due to Ft. Bragg Army Base. Also, I like to create work that is influenced by some of the events and issues in my surroundings. My family and friends do support my work. At first, I liked to keep my collective work to myself and I did not show or discuss my work with anyone except my mother and brother. Art has made such an overall impact on my life. I would not be who I am without art. I look at everything from color, shape, space, texture, and concept as art. Life has influenced my work by incorporating things others or I have experienced. Showing these experiences in my work has helped me express my emotions more elaborately. When and how did you start making art? Can you describe the time when you first realized that creating was something you absolutely had to do? Why do you make art now? How has your work changed or developed over time? What are you trying to communicate with your art?
I started creating and experimenting with art at the age of three. Growing up as a kid I faced the challenge of dealing with a condition called Erbs Palsy that affected the general movement of my arm. My Papa helped me with maintaining my physical therapy and gaining my full range of motion in my arm by placing crayons, pens, and pencils in my hand for me to draw. By him doing this, I gained back my full range of motion and overcame the challenge of being disabled and not being able to use my arm. And with his help, I discovered my love for art. By grade school, I realized that art was a part of me. I got in trouble with my elementary school teachers for looking out the window and drawing what I saw rather than being attentive in class. My mother then
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