Submitted by Kathleen Amoia
(November 20, 2024) — Vickie Williams sees her life and its pursuits as a series of journeys during and through which she seeks joy. Moving to Killingworth was the conclusion of a short odyssey in search of a retirement home. Pursuing her art has been the journey of a lifetime.
When Vickie’s husband Don retired in 2021, they sold their Westfield, New Jersey home and put their belongings in storage. They set out on a road trip that took them to Princeton, Longwood Gardens, Delaware, Richmond and Williamsburg. A cold January in 2022 was spent in a friend’s Victorian home in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. They then headed up to the Connecticut shoreline, explored Clinton and found Killingworth. The house they bought was definitely a fixer-upper, but it was not too far from the water or their younger son. And it had an amazing, sunlit in-home studio that Vickie could not pass up.
Exploring her skills as an artist began in earnest during Vickie’s student years at Morristown High School in New Jersey. The school had a separate Art Department facility on campus and teachers available to interested students during the day. Vickie used that facility to its fullest and went on to major in Fine Arts at Colgate University.
While her sons, Don and Peter, were young, Vickie was a stay-at-home mom. Art was something she made time for here and there, taking courses when she could. While her children attended elementary school, she was part of the PTA Art Appreciation Committee, which she chaired for six years. Eventually, she went back to college for a teaching certificate and taught in a private school. There she developed her own art curriculum.
When Peter went off to college, Vickie took more art classes and studied for two years with Anne Kullaf, a visual artist specializing in large format oil paintings. These classes were held at the New Jersey Center for Visual Art in Summit. She began putting her work in small art shows. She did house portraits and watercolors for charity events and became a recognized artist in her locale. That she was achieving success in a personally satisfying way was an important aspect of Vickie’s work. She credits Morristown artist and teacher, Julie Friedman, with encouraging her to be her best in the ways she loved most.
Vickie’s favorite medium is oil. She also uses watercolors and acrylics. She will tell you she finds her joy in colors, playing with them, capturing light and its effects on color. You can see all of that in how she paints flowers.
Commitment to her work is reflected in Vickie’s membership in The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, New Jersey, The Westfield Art Association, in New Jersey and the Madison Art Society, the Guilford Art League and the Clinton Art Gallery in Connecticut. Vickie is a newly elected member of the Clinton Art Society. Her works also can be found at Spectrum Gallery in Centerbrook, and at The Artist Framer in Cranford, New Jersey.
A featured exhibition at the Clinton Art Gallery is Vickie’s most recent show. It runs through November. Paintings posted here are in the show and give you an idea of her use of color, the light she brings to canvas, the “caught-in-a-moment” sense of motion. For further information, visit the Clinton Art Gallery website or call 860-552-3239.
Several of Vickie’s works were recently displayed at Killingworth Library and currently at the Madison Art Theater. At present, she is working on large pieces for the Madison Congregational Church as part of their Stewardship Season and Thanksgiving.
Finding joy in her art has been a journey worthy of the effort. Her odyssey with her husband to find this town and their place in it has been rewarding as well. “When you follow your bliss… doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors….” (Joseph Campbell)
Images provided by Vickie Williams
