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Tony Williams, “Self-portrait”

Tony Williams - Artist

Cleveland-based fiber artist Tony Williams has exhibited in numerous juried shows, both local, national, and international. Recent highlights include Ohio Now: State of Nature, co-organized by the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (2025-2026), and on display at MoCA Cleveland from January 30 to May 31, 2026. His work has also appeared in the 18th and 17th Annual African American Fiber Art Exhibits in Charleston, the Ohio Art Council “All We Can’t Forget, ”2024-2025 Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio Art Council Biennial Juried Exhibition at Riffe Gallery (2023), Celebrating Black Mermaids at City Gallery in Charleston (2023), and the 15th Annual African American Fiber Art Exhibit (2023). Additional exhibitions include All That We Carry at Sumter County Gallery of Art, the Artist in Residency Exhibition at Morgan Conservatory, Paper on Skin and Paper off Skin 2022 in Tasmania, Excellence in Fiber at Schweinfurth Art Center, and the OAC Biennial Juried Exhibitions at Riffe Gallery and Medici Museum of Art (2021). Other notable venues are Black Creativity in Chicago, Sankofa at the 14th Annual African American Fiber Arts Exhibit in Charleston, About Body, About Face in Cleveland, Contemporary Fibers at the National Juried Textile Exhibition in St. Augustine, Paper on Skin 2018 in Tasmania, and A Dialogue in Black and White in Charleston.

His public art projects include The Anson Street African Burial Ground Project with the Gullah Society in Charleston, the Year of the Horse and Sheep sculptures in Asia Town, Cleveland, and Waterways to Waterways. He served as artist-in-residence at the Morgan Conservatory in 2021, focusing on indigo on paper, and at Karamu House-Room in the House in 2020.