Freda Williams: A Retrospective

About Freda Williams

Mabel “Freda” Williams has been a resident of the Trenton area and Ewing Township for over
seventy years.  A native of North Carolina, she has been expressing her love of art since the age of
ten.  Her paintings reflect her love of color, and are vivid images of nostalgic memories, cultural
experiences, and political impressions.  Her impressions of her subjects are painterly and vivid.  Most
of her recent work has been in acrylic, but her favorite medium is oil.  She has added watercolor and
mixed media to her repertoire, and enjoys painting on a variety of surfaces, such as wood, glass, and
burlap fabric.

She retired after serving 20 years in the Steel Industry as Manager of Employment and 25 years as
Manager of Affirmative Action with the State Department of Education.  She attended Rider College
(currently Rider University). She is a Self-Taught professional Artist. Throughout her career, her art
was primarily for personal and creative expression, to balance the intensity of professional life. Her
family and friends received paintings as gifts.  When contemplating retirement, she decided to view it
as a time for creative exploration.

Freda has exhibited at the Mercer County Senior Juried Art Show, Lawrenceville and Ewing Public
Libraries, the Ewing Township Arts Commission, the Hopewell Valley Community Bank, Trinity United
Methodist Church, Artworks: Trenton’s Downtown Visual Art Center, US Federal District Court,
Burlington County Courthouse, West Windsor Juried Art Show, and Hopewell Valley Vineyards-
Summer Threads Exhibit, Ellarslie Open #40, The Trenton City Museum.
She has served on the Ewing Township Arts Commission, and she continues to encourage people of
all ages and backgrounds to participate in the diversity of art. She is an advocate for Seniors in art
and organized a senior art ministry for members and non-members of her church – the ministry is
titled “Golden Arts Ministry”.

About the Exhibition

In this retrospective, you will see a verity of styles and themes, i.e. florals, political, African American History, Trenton historical sites, southern themes, landscapes and cityscapes; also included is the, “To The Left Series,”( a personal journey).

Williams’s work is heavily inspired by African American History, which is an attempt to remind people
of the importance of history. “Most people enjoy seeing things that are familiar to them and give
them a since of community and fond memories of a time gone by” says Freda.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see!” – by Henry
David Thoreau –