Michael Kelly Williams, raised in Detroit, Michigan, grew up surrounded by art and music. After studying art at the University of Michigan, he moved to New York City and, in the summer of 1979, joined The Printmaking Workshop, where he connected with a global community of artists and met key figures such as Otto Neals, robin holder, and Krishna Reddy, and worked at Betty Blayton’s Children’s Art Carnival. His experiences, including his time printing in a studio Blackburn helped establish in Asilah, Morocco, continue to shape his art today. In 2018, he became the first recipient of the Blackburn Legacy Fellowship. Williams has been commissioned for various permanent installations, including two mosaic murals at the Intervale Subway Station (2/5) in the Bronx and several glass murals in Queens, New York.
In this excerpt, Williams reflects on his close bond with Blackburn, their shared passion for jazz, Geri Allen’s album The Printmakers, and the first woodcut he printed at the workshop.
