Skip to content
John Williams in his Mayflower Road studio. WINCHESTER NEWS STAFF PHOTO/JOYCE WESTNER

Table of Contents

Award-willing collage artist John Williams says he’s mostly self-taught. 

“I started making sculptures in Play-Doh when I was 4 years old,” he says.

His mother, Kathleen Piggott, describes them as “fanciful creatures — and yet, so real.”

When they lived in Bedford, Williams was in his school’s gifted art program (his family moved to Winchester when he was 14).

A piece by Williams’s made the cover of the Folk Art Messenger. COURTESY PHOTO/JOHN WILLIAMS

At the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Williams took a course in collage and when his mother saw his work in his portfolio, “It became the basis of my work.”

“It was hard to store and transport fragile sculptures,” says Williams, which is why he switched his medium to collage. “Art is safer when it’s in a frame.”

Williams uses bits of paper he cuts out of magazines and catalogs. 

“I started doing pieces about the Civil War,” he says.

Kathleen Piggott and John Williams with his collages. WINCHESTER NEWS STAFF PHOTO/JOYCE WESTNER

“None of his professors had seen his collages and when he had a senior exhibit, he displayed collages of dogs, Civil War generals and maps,” Piggott says. “Professors wondered whose work it was.”

These days, Williams is doing collages of floral arrangements, seascapes, sunsets.  At the end of August and early September, Williams will have a 30-piece exhibit at Gallery 444 in Provincetown. 

“It’s how I earn my living, “he says.

Piggott adds, “John’s under no pressure — he does what he loves. We’re so proud of his work.”

Williams’s work will also be on display in the Winchester Public Library and during “Art in August.”

He received a citation from the Folk Art Society of America and was cited in a book about autistic artists. 

Piggott points out that making eye contact is difficult for someone with autism, and Williams is a member of the The Association for Autism and Neurodiversity.

“I worked with parents years ago to set up this group,” Piggott says. “Their members include more than 100 artists from all over the world.”

Williams welcomes anyone interested in his work to visit his studio. You can get details from him by email at johnmwilliamsfineart@gmail.com.

Winchester News is a non-profit organization supported by our community. If you appreciate having local Winchester news, please donate to support our work, and subscribe to our free weekly newsletter.

Latest

PRIDE Month events to celebrate and support Winchester’s LGBTQ+ community

PRIDE Month events to celebrate and support Winchester’s LGBTQ+ community

The following was submitted by the Network for Social Justice: June is PRIDE Month, and Winchester is once again showing its commitment to inclusion, celebration, and the LGBTQ+ community. The town’s PRIDE Proclamation and Human Rights Statement, both available on the Town of Winchester’s website, reaffirm the town’

Winchester says goodbye to Mr. Baseball

Winchester says goodbye to Mr. Baseball

The sign hanging on the mantle in the Nutile home says “We interrupt this marriage to bring you the baseball season.” That’s a good illustration of how much baseball played in the lives of the Nutile family.  Susan Nutile and daughter Katie knew baseball was ever present in their

  Subscribe