Sarah Williams

Taillight Towns

Talley Dunn Gallery
July 12 – August 30, 2025

In this new body of work, I continue to use my paintings as a way to honor my own regional history which I will always tie to my upbringing in North Missouri. I now realize that while these paintings started as a way to deal with the homesickness I felt after leaving my childhood hometown to pursue an MFA degree in an urban setting, it has become a way of creating some strange kind of souvenir of the places I left and the structures and things I knew most intimately. Even though I eventually took a job back in my home region, I’ve come to understand that in many ways, I’ll never be home again.

This distance does, however, allow me to really see my home and be aware of my new role as a visitor in a way I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. My pride and passion for the rural Midwest remains as strong as it ever was, but now that comes through in my paintings like a witness’ perspective. Each time I return home to visit family, I notice that important landmarks are gone or have drastically changed. As a Midwesterner, I’ve always oriented myself on unique structures or distinctive features of the land. When an entire city block of hundred-plus-year-old buildings falls or significant homes or trees are demolished, I feel my internal compass shift. When so much else feels uncertain, using my home place as a way to center myself has felt steadying and necessary.

I’m aware of how, over time, ways of life shape and define people and the places in which they live. Making these paintings helps me consider whether disappearance can be meaningful. And if so, in what way it’s meaningful for my home community and for myself. I’m considering where I’ll find “home” again and where I can “go back” to when trying to center myself.

All places acquire layers of history. I’m hopeful that the shift I’m observing in my hometown is a cycle that has occurred before in one way or another. Maybe it looks different to a current resident than a visitor.

Sarah Williams, 2025

Sarah Williams was raised in Brookfield, Missouri, a rural Midwestern town. These roots have influenced her representations of small towns and vernacular architecture. Her intimate, tightly-painted works often portray buildings such as gas stations, bungalows, and the environments surrounding these structures. These tableaux of American life, while unremarkable in themselves, are elevated by Williams’ adept handling of light and mood. Through her approach, the everyday becomes a fascinating enigma. After earning a BFA from William Woods University in Missouri, Williams completed her MFA in Drawing and Painting at the University of North Texas in 2009.  She now serves as Professor of Painting at Missouri State University in Springfield.

Williams’ artwork has been shown in institutions throughout the United States, including solo exhibitions at Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, Wyoming; the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas; Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas; and the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, St. Joseph, Missouri. Her work is included in numerous institutional collections including the Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas; Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas; Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas; Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, Washington; Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, Wyoming; Old Jail Art Center, Albany, Texas; University of North Texas, Denton, Texas; and William Woods University, Fulton, Missouri.