No to Chemistry, Yes to Art

David Williams is an artist and Art professor at Northern Arizona University. He is one of those people who started doing art without having an education. He was spending a lot of time in the library where he was drawing different characters from magazines and books. He was drawing for himself, and never expected art to be his profession, but life is unpredictable, and now, he gets a chance to earn money and do what he loves-drawing and teaching the younger generation.  

 “I never took any [art] classes during school,” Williams said. “I was a biology major, but later, me and chemistry had a conversation. Chemistry said I do not like you, I said I do not like you back, so I switched to environmental design.” 

 Most people get lost in life because they do not notice in time that they do not get along with what they do. David Williams caught that he did not like chemistry in time, and this is what makes him a lucky person. He understood it, and after that, he had to take a break from school for eight years. 

 “I quit school because I had money problems,” Williams said. “I bumped around the states for 8 years and then I got back into school.”  

 He was a non-traditional student. He used to be the oldest guy in the class, but it did not make him uncomfortable. On the contrary, he became good friends with his professors and kept working under his skills.  

 “One of my professors is a year younger than me and we are still good friends,” Williams said. “David Christiano was major influencer when I was learning.” 

 Those people helped him to create his personal style of drawing. They taught him that some of his weakness does not have to appear in his works because this is where he can express himself. Williams is a shy person, and there are some things, which he can not say, but can draw it.  

 “My imagination is my best friend,” Williams said. “I express myself and a lot of times it is seeing things in a silly way. “I have different way of looking at the world and I use my imagination to express it.” 

 His art is extraordinary. He draws nature and portraits. Some of his portraits amaze because of the unique information in it. For example, the body of a human being with the head of an animal.  

 “I draw sometimes people with animal heads because this is the way I see them,” Williams said. 

 During the time when he was getting his diploma, he understood that he wants to teach art. He got his graduate program and kept doing art. This is when he got his first personal exhibition.  

 “I got my first personal exhibition when I got to graduate school,” Williams said. 

 This is not luckiness, but stubbornness, and the desire to spend your life on something which you love and want to do. It was a little bit challenging to find a job after graduation, but Williams never gives up.  

 “I think finding a job was the toughest part, but i got really lucky when I got the job offer I wanted in Ohio,” Williams said. “I love to teach, I love art, and I’m teaching what I love to do, so I can’t complain.” 

 David Williams teaches, and always learns something new from his students. He still does his art exhibitions, but not that often. If he does, it is because he wants to share his experience.  

 “I used to do a lot of exhibitions, but my last personal exhibition was a long time ago, probably around five years ago,” Williams said. “Now, I’m doing it at the end of my career.”  

 David Williams story shows that life can be challenging sometimes, and it does not always go the way people plan it, but in the end, how the practice shows, people get what they want to have, but it takes time.  

 “I learned a long time ago that you never should wait for something to happen,” Williams said. “Just enjoy every day cause it might be your last.”