Mary Williams Returns With 13 New Originals Entitled Shoot the Shit

1xRUN Thru Interview
Shoot the Shit by Mary Wiliams

1xRUN: What have you been up to since your last RUN with us?
Mary Williams: Over the summer I spent a couple weeks in Austin, Texas where I did a very large mural for my job. It turned out better than I had hoped, and everyone enjoyed the balance of drawing execution and amusing weirdness. Except for 1 person. Two days after I completed it, it was painted over. Since then, I have been working through frustration and disappointment in my own work and with this series of guns.

mary-williams-austin-mural

1xRUN: Tell us a little bit about this series.
Mary Williams: It touches on a few different topics including mental illness, frustration with technology, and neighborhood watch. There is also an underlying toughness and beauty that I incorporate in each one.

1xRUN: Materials printed drawn with?
Mary Williams: I’ve been working with lots of new materials: brightly colored handmade paper, a modern architecture magazine, fast food containers, and some tiny 3D materials like the zipper and the pill casings. I also used the medication warning and information paper that comes with my Prozac and my sleeping pills. Its kind of a fascinating and scary read. I have depression, anxiety, and insomnia and I’m okay with people knowing that and judging me.

mary-williams-casings-zipper

1xRUN: When were these pieces created?
Mary Williams: These were made over a period of about 2 months, but there is usually a frenzied time of creativity lasting about 2 weeks when the bulk of it is made.

white-castle-case

1xRUN: Tell us how the idea and execution came about?
Mary Williams: Some of the ideas for these came about when I was in Texas. There are stars on everything in Texas. I met a guy there who had a bunch of guns. He showed me his collection, most of which was in a state of the art storage locker. I got to hold a small handgun for the first time. This guy was really ready for the apocalypse, except for the fact that he was wearing flip flops.

1xRUN: Describe these pieces in one gut reaction word.
Mary Williams: Mental

mary-williams-shoot-the-shit

1xRUN: What artists inspire you now?
Mary Williams: There is a huge increase in graffiti and street art in Detroit right now, which is really inspiring. I do hand lettering and calligraphy for my job, so I am interested in making my own graffiti language for my personal work. Its starting to come through in small ways.

the-weird-eastern-market

1xRUN: What was the last piece of art that you bought?
Mary Williams: I bought a piece from Ellen Rutt called ‘When Anxiety Attacks’. It has a wonderful frenzied energy.

ellen-rutt-when-anxiety-attacks

1xRUN: Where else can people find you?
Mary Williams: WebsiteFacebook