Oreta Williams, Storm Coming, oil on canvas, 24 by 31 inches. Signed and titled verso.
A native of Alderson, West Virginia, Oreta Basham, and Harold Williams graduated from Alderson High School in June 1944. A year later the couple were married with Private Harold Williams, Army Air Corps, now stationed in Fort Myers, Florida. Oreta worked in commercial art in Dayton and Baltimore before memories of Fort Myers, and a desire for a life in art, bought the couple back to Florida in 1948 for study at the Ringling School of Art. Two year later The Leader, Hinton, West Virginia, noted their success, “Two Alderson students were among the finalist in the recent 19th annual exhibit of student work at the Ringling School of Art at Sarasota, Fla. Oreta Williams finished second in the fine arts division and Harold Williams was third in commercial design.” Harold studied sculpture but never pursued art. Oreta met with some considerable success and in 1956 was elected to the Florida Artists’ Group. Of the 15 artists who applied for membership, Oreta Williams was one of three elected. The Florida Artist Group is today the oldest continually operating art organization for professional artists in the state of Florida.
In February 1957 Williams opened her first one-man exhibit at the Art League of Manatee County. Mary M. Hays in the Bradenton Herald commented, “Among the younger painters of Florida’s west coast, Oreta Williams, by the pure superiority of her work, has caught the attention of critics and jurors, who have granted her much favorable comment and awards. In the past year she was one of three applicants who were granted membership in the state-wide Florida Artist Group, from a list of fifteen. We are honored to have had her exhibit staged in the Art Center galley.”
Oreta Williams, oil on canvas, 34 1/2 by 28 inches. Signed on verso.
The St. Petersburg Times (September 21, 1958), reviewed her exhibit at the Art League of Manatee County, “Oreta Williams’ oil, Gray Skies, is a splendid example of the sensitive artist’s gift for seeing beauty in an everyday world. Untrained eyes would have seen only a long shack standing neglected among high weeds and scrub palmetto, but Oreta, the painter, saw the beauty of contrasts. She noted how the horizontal line of the shack was emphasized sharply by the upward thrust of the tall Australian pines behind it. She saw how the sunlight flooded shack, weeds, and palmetto with shades of yellow and rich earth colors against the deep green of the shadowed pines.”
Williams continued as a staff instructor at the Manatee County Art Center and the Longboat Key Art Center for the next 20 years. In 1963 she won the Governor’s Plaque for the best Florida landscape in the annual Florida Federation of Art competition.
Born: Alderson, West Virginia. Education: Dayton Art Institute; Ringling School of Art with Loran Wilford; Sculpture with Leslie Posey at Art League of Manatee County. Membership: Sarasota Art Association; Art League of Manatee County, 1954-56; Florida Artist Group; Florida Federation of Art. Exhibits: Audubon Artists Group, New York City, 1952; Southeastern Annual, Atlanta 1952-53; Art League of Manatee County, 19th annual, January 1955, honorable mention for Peppermints; Florida Federation of Art, Stetson University, DeLand, January 1955; Art League of Manatee County, All Members Exhibit, October 1955, 209 Ninth St. W. Bradenton, oils, Sea Oddities, Approach of Bill Collector; Art League of Manatee County, Members Exhibit, February 1956, a stone sculpture, Portrait and honorable mention, Tall Trees and Home Work; Contemporary Arts Gallery, Pinellas Park, July-August 1956, oil paintings of clowns from Ringling Circus; Art League of Manatee County, December 1956; Bradenton Art Center, February 1957; Bradenton Art Center April 1957, one-man exhibit, Hog Killing, Mountain County West Virginia, Broom Sage, Valley, and Florida paintings, Early Morning (bathers at the beach) and The Bay; Art League of Manatee County, Searle Gallery, January 1959, honorable mention in portraits for Danny; Art League of Manatee County, Member’s Annual Juried Exhibit, March 1959, Evening, Depressed; Napier School of Art and Gallery, St. Petersburg, 20 paintings including, Silver Pants; Florida State Fair, Tampa, exhibited between, 1956-1962; Napier School of Art Gallery, October 1963; Florida Federation of Art, 1963, Governor’s Plaque for best Florida landscape; Florida Gulf Coast Art Center, Belleair, March 1964; Manatee County Art Center, one-man exhibit, May 1966; Longboat Key Art Center, 17th Annual Members Juried Show, 1st prize in oil for The Swingers; Manatee County Art League, Fall Open Show, October 1979, juror. Directory: Listed in the Sarasota City Directory, 1958, 1959, as an artist with a studio at 1110 Central Spatz Blvd.
