Moses Williams

Moses Williams is a full-time Professor of Sculpture and Intermedia in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of Utah's College of Fine Arts. Based in Salt Lake City, he maintains an active international studio and exhibition practice while serving on numerous university and community committees.

Education

• MFA in Visual Art, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 2017
• BFA in Sculpture/Performance/Video/Painting, Watkins College of Art, Nashville, TN, 2013

Research & Creative Practice

Williams’ work is a multi-disciplinary investigation of the inseparable relationship between cognitive and material experience as it is lived through the body. Employing sculpture, performance, video, and sound, he explores sensuality, longing, and the abject via ritual acts and the creation of “empathetic” objects. Rooted in embodied phenomenology and Indigenous knowledge systems, his practice challenges colonial histories and Western epistemologies by re-contextualizing materials such as clay, glass, sand, and digital media to propose alternative logics and future narratives.

Community engagement is central: recent projects include Stories Have A Place, an Indigenous food-knowledge initiative with the University of Utah American Indian Resource Center, and Kunst auf der Grenze / Art on the Border, an international collaboration addressing historical narratives around national boundaries.

Exhibitions & Performances

Since 2010 he has presented over 60 solo and group exhibitions across the United States and Europe, including venues such as Apexart (New York), The Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Utah Museum of Fine Art, SeelenArt Galerie (Munich), and David B Smith Gallery (Denver).

Selected University & Community Service

• Chair, Gittins Gallery Committee, University of Utah (2023-25)
• Graduate Committee, Sculpture Intermedia, University of Utah (2024-25)
• Advisor, U of U Sculpture Club (2022-25)
• MFA Advising Committee, Belmont University, Nashville (2020-25)
• Equity & Diversity Committee, University of Utah (2021-24)
• Co-founder & Co-chair, Co. H Artist Collective, Nashville (2012-14)

Artist Talks & Lectures

Recent invited presentations include Stanford University (2021), Belmont University (2024), SeelenArt Galerie Munich (2023), and the University of Utah’s Parable Bodies series (2024).