Announcing our 2022 Mary Moser Award winner: David Williams

Submitted by Esther Lafferty on Thu, 03/02/2022 - 9:23am

Artweeks are delighted to announce that Bampton sculptor David Williams is the winner of the 2022 Mary Moser Award for his striking works in stone. The prize was established in 2003 to mark the work of a local artist who has taken up art as a second career later in life. David has spent many years as a teacher.

David began stone carving about eight years ago when he was given some stone-carving chisels one Christmas. He has increasingly devoted himself to what started as a hobby and has now become a way of life. Most of his pieces are inspired by nature, either echoing the shapes he sees or else carved in a stylised way. Recent work has included big sections of sunflowers nearly a metre across in offcuts of Ancaster limestone and small sleek tactile owls.

“I have often used a circular shape for the animals – leaping fish or flowing otters – as I like the idea, inspired by Barbara Hepworth, of being able to see through a sculpture. I am also inspired by the books of Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris: I also enjoy working with text and extended my skills into letter-cutting which is quite technical,” says David.

Limited in size by what he can manage in the back garden, and what he and wife can carry through the garage, David also makes a range of gilded pebbles to fit – literally – every pocket. David also teaches day-workshops for people who would like to have a go at stone carving.

David Williams's Artweeks exhibition will run from 7th-15th May at 39 Robsart Place, Cumnor, Oxford OX2 9QT venue 198.

You can read more about David in this magazine feature here.