Meet Artist Sandy Williams IV

Everyone is invited to a reception on Thursday, October 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Torpedo Factory Art Center to meet artist Sandy Williams IV who has been selected for the 2026 Time & Place public art installation celebrating the nation's 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Remarks will begin at 7 p.m. Guests will have an opportunity to meet Sandy and learn about his artistic practice and help him learn more about Alexandria. The reception is free and open to the public.

Sandy Williams IV is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker and professor. Their art practice studies the vernacular of time as it exists across cultural landscapes, personal experiences, and as a unit of measurement. Williams’ approach to public art is sensitive to the contextual histories that inform a specific region and creates space in the archive for disenfranchised memories and participatory experiences to visualize new frameworks for communal emancipation.

Williams’ art practice is ultimately concerned with cultivating love and empathy, and they hope it can conjure moments of reflection for people. They state, “I want to inspire a sense of catharsis that is communal and opens viewers up to perspectives they may not have otherwise considered. I see my artworks as conversation pieces, like portals or bridges, to thoughts, feelings, or histories that are absent, intangible or might only exist invisibly within space. I learned how to care through my parents and grandparents, but especially through my mother, and I want my art to hold people and their stories with that same love and care.”

Williams holds a BA from the University of Virginia and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Sculpture and Extended Media. They are Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Richmond and a recipient of the 2024 Joan Mitchell Fellowship, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship, and the New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, Hyperallergic, and BBC, as well as in numerous solo and group exhibitions

Time & Place is a series of periodic, curated exhibitions of temporary public art projects that examine aspects of the city’s history. The focus of each exhibition is determined by a curator through conversation with the Office of the Arts, Office of Historic Alexandria, and relevant tasks forces and commissions. Artists have been given the opportunity to draw on the historic and archaeological resources that the City has available and have been challenged to look for meaningful locations elsewhere throughout the city. Projects have been developed in many media.

The inaugural Time and Place exhibition featured works by artists Lauren Adams and Stewart Watson (collaborating) and Sheldon Scott. Their works were presented in early 2017 and were recognized by the Public Art Network’s Year in Review as one of the most exemplary projects completed that year.

In 2024, in recognition of Alexandria’s 275th anniversary, Time & Place artist Dee Dwyer responded to the theme “One Alexandria, Many Stories.” Known for her awe-inspiring images, Dee Dwyer’s project culminated in a community event in October 2024 with art projections, a night market, and community connections at Market Square in Old Town Alexandria.

Visit alexandriava.gov/PublicArt for more information about the Time & Place public art series.

Time & Place is commissioned by Alexandria’s Public Art Program, led by the City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts.

Host or Publisher City of Alexandria Office of the Arts