Trish Williams, Illustrator

As a child I could rarely be found without a pencil in hand, constantly drawing, doodling, designing, creating. No phone-pad or book cover was left without my mark. As a young adult I dreamt of attending art school, to become a Medical Illustrator. Instead, I became a Medical Technologist, the closest thing to Medical Illustration that any advisor could recommend. I married a doctor, set down my pencil and raised a family. My life was what many would call the "American Dream." But without art I felt empty and unfulfilled. While my children were at home I was happy enough, but when they left for college the old hankering to study with really fine artists returned.

One sunny June day, in the first year of a brand new century, I filed for divorce changed my life in ways I never imagined. That very day I made an appointment to speak with an admissions counselor at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. I had no portfolio to submit and had not drawn in nearly 20 years. Still, they recognized my desire, my need, to attend art school and arranged for me to take a few classes in order to build a portfolio and re-apply. In May of 2004 I graduated with 23 of the most talented Illustrators ever to pass through the doors of MIAD. It was an experience well worth waiting for. I hadn't felt so blessed since my children were born!

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While at MIAD I struggled to find a place in my new world. At first I pursued Communication Design and took enough classes to earn a Minor, but I really missed the hands-on feel of paper, pencil and scissors. Instead I decided to focus on Illustration; it was an opportunity to use a wide variety of media while telling a story with my art. I began to collect fine hand-made papers, rich in color and texture. The way these papers could be ripped to form soft cloud-like edges or sharply cut to define a variety of shapes fascinated me. In many ways paper collage was more intriguing than anything I could do with a pencil or brush. I loved the depth I could achieve with layers of paper and how the addition of found objects could change the meaning of a piece. Having waited two decades for formal art training offered me an unexpected new tool for my palette, the computer. Many of my pieces are actually several layers of art, combined digitally. A new style was born!

During my second year at MIAD I sold my first professional piece: "The Great Circus Train" poster for the 2002 Circus Parade. A few of the pieces highlighted on my website, www.trishwilliams.net, include: The "Celtic Dragon,” one of three final designs considered for the 2003 Irish Fest poster. "Oursi" is a little stuffed polar bear that my daughter, Nila Varma, received as a gift from a friend in Paris, where she lives and works. A number of my scenes of Milwaukee appear in a beautiful coffee table book, called "Milwaukee Sketchbook," launched early in 2006 by Indigo Publishing. The images of the little mouse were part of my Senior Thesis, a children's book entitled "The Wedding of the Mouse: An Asian Folktale" that was release on November 1, 2006, by Playground Press LLC.

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As a student most of my work was done in a delightful studio space, in the old servants quarters and ballroom on the top floor of an old restored lakeside mansion on Milwaukee's Eastside, where I also resided. It was a wonderful place to rediscover my art, close to all that Milwaukee has to offer and convenient to Madison, where my son, Som Varma II, works and attends school. My Sheltie, Miel, and my little black barn cat, Amelia, were and are my constant companions while I created.

I am lucky enough to have found a new love in my life, Gordon Mueller, who appreciates and supports my art. We were married on May 15, 2005 and I became Trish Williams Mueller. We are now a family of 8, Gordie and I, Miel and Amelia, a new calico cat named Spice, a tiny black mouse named Father Mouse, after the main character in my children’s book, and a fish aptly called Fishy! The original master bedroom of our Glendale home has become my new studio. The addition of a solar tube over my father's old drafting table makes it a cheerful and comfortable place to continue my work.

In 2006 I created my own publishing company, Playground Press LLC, in order to produce my first children's book. Another one is on its way, as well as several more collaborations. Life is good!

Woman Within:

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I did my Woman Within Training Weekend in June of 2003 in St. Louis. I was lucky to be joined by my daughter, Nila Varma. That same year my son, Som Varma II, did his Warrior Training Weekend and is now on the facilitation track. My husband, Gordon Mueller, is also a Warrior. (I did my training under the name Pat Varma, I use Trish Williams for my art, and use Williams Mueller as my legal name.)

In August 2006 I was delighted to be selected to staff at the 3rd and 4th Woman Within International Training Weekends ever to be held in South Africa. A group of local professional women, who did their training in England, got together to create a Woman Within affiliate organization they call Women of Afrika. These are wonderful, energetic, compassionate women with boundless energy. I am honored and profoundly changed by my experience with them. They are able to provide full scholarships to six women of color for each of their training weekends. Together with these women, an amazing local and international staff and a contingent of trainees from all over South Africa, the new program is blossoming and expanding at an incredible rate. Last I heard there were over 250 women on the waiting list for the next weekend!

Woman Within has changed my life! Since I did my weekend I have begun to pursue many paths of spiritual growth. I joined a wonderful Empowerment Circle. I became a facilitator for a Chalice Circle, a small group ministry, at the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee. I paneled and facilitated several divorce recovery weekends, called New Horizons, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. And I am presently working on my Master’s of Spiritual Psychology with a minor in Breathwork, at Transformations, Inc., School of Spiritual Psychology, in Milwaukee. I look forward to taking all these skills into many new Woman Within Training Weekends!

Trish Williams (WWTW, June, 2003, St. Louis, MO) portkey2000@gmail.com 414.352.1590 Photo of Trish Williams taken at “Cheetah Outreach,” a private reserve outside Cape Town, South Africa. Trish visited Cape Town in August 2006 to staff the 3rd and 4th Woman Within International/Women of Afrika Training Weekends ever offered in South Africa. Pictured with her is Joseph, Cheetah. (Hand in lower left corner belongs to his trainer.)

Detail from "Season’s Greetings from The Muellers,” Trish Williams’ latest work. It was created as a Christmas card from herself, her husband, Gordon Mueller, and their menagerie of animals (from the bottom): Cisco, Miel, Amelia, Spice and Father Mouse (purchased to entertain children at book signing events, Father Mouse is the main character of her book).