Kel Williams

Guguu Yimithirr / Ugar-Stephen Island

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Kel was born in 1956 in Gimuy (Cairns). He is a distinguished artist, with his Clan group being Guguu Yimithirr. His totem is the Black-Faced Kangaroo.
During his childhood, he found great joy in listening to the narratives shared by his mother and grandmother about Cape York and the ancient stories recounted by his grandfather about Ugar.
He commenced learning the art of carving at the age of 10 from his parental grandfather from Thursday Island, who wood-carved. His grandfather specialised in carving fish, but Kel preferred carving Aboriginal figures and Australian native animals.
After completing his apprenticeship in New Zealand in the mid-to-late 1970s, Kel returned to Australia and commenced working in the boat-building industry in Gimuy (Cairns) and Innisfail. In 1993, he gave up his full-time employment and started his own business as a professional woodwork artist. Kel started by carving native birds and animals and branched out into making boomerangs and didgeridoos. Onto the boomerangs and didgeridoos, he developed and carved intricate designs onto contemporary Aboriginal art.
In 2004, Kel completed Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. This certificate allowed him to teach wood carving in many remote Aboriginal and Island communities. He taught at the New Mapoon Arts Centre in 2008, the Cultural Centre at Coen in 2009, and back in New Mapoon in March 2010.
Kel’s carving have been exhibited in many group and touring exhibitions, including Art Fairs across Australia.