Prominent Dallas Artists

Rotarians meet every 3rd Thursday at 5:30PM for Happy Hour at various locations around Dallas. Please contact social chair, Amanda Melo if you have a favorite spot you'd like to meet. This is a great opportunity for networking, and getting to know your fellow members of the club in a casual environment. It is also a great opportunity to invite a guest! 

We are meeting virtually via Zoom this week - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85492570858?pwd=YkcrTUVjN1JTTDNwaVEyb2tPZzVkZz09 

Meeting ID: 854 9257 0858

Passcode: 663000

SPECIAL PROGRAM - Two Prominent Dallas Artists will join us to share their work! Niki Gulley, painter and Scott Williams, photographer.

Niki Gulley | www.nikigulley.com | facebook.com/niki.gulley 

Niki Gulley’s passion for painting began in grade school when she had to draw something as mundane as shoes for art class, and loved every minute of it. Seeing a spark of enthusiasm, her parents signed her up for private art lessons and she has been hooked ever since. Following her childhood in Glenview, Illinois, Niki relocated to Dallas to pursue an art major at Southern Methodist University. Since she disliked the long Chicago winters, Dallas seemed like the place to stay after completing her degree.

Upon graduating Gulley entered the world of advertising, working as art director for a Dallas magazine. After a few years passed by, Niki felt like something was missing. So she started painting again during nights, weekends and any time she could find a free moment. This satisfied the void and she began to feel fulfilled again. Ten years later she segued from advertising to live her life’s dream of being a full-time artist and has continued to paint full time for the past fifteen years. Besides painting in her Dallas studio, Gulley has traveled the globe in search for inspiration, and often paints sketches on location to create larger works back home. With her husband and photographer, Scott Williams, they have combined their mutual experience as travelers, coupled with their passion for teaching, to conduct painting and photography Art Treks both in Europe and the US.

It’s from this search for inspiration that Niki translates onto canvas her emotion for the viewer to share. She seeks to capture the beauty and mysteries of our landscape, utilizing vivid color palettes to convey a particular mood. Gulley invites you to reconnect with nature and escape the day-to-day responsibilities along with her in these creations. 

Scott Williams | blind-squirrel.org |  facebook.com/ScottWilliamsPhotography

Growing up in small town America in upstate New York produces a strong urge to leave and explore the world, which is something that I have been doing ever since. After graduating with a business degree and trying my hand at numerous endeavors showed me that I wasn’t cut out for the usual road that most people travel. So I went in search of a career that fit my personality and lifestyle, photography. Where it went from being a photography student in college and manifested itself into becoming the instructor. My wife and I now teach photography and painting workshops via our Art Treks company. Some of our destinations have included Tuscany, Paris, Cinque Terre, Provence, Santa Fe, Greece, the Riviera, Spain, New Orleans, Lake Como, Slovenia, Ireland, New England, Croatia, Scotland and Venice, along with numerous other exciting future locations.

Since starting on my chosen path, I have traveled the globe visiting more than 30 countries along the way. I use the camera to explore the world around me to capture a moment in time that has some significance for me.

So many times photographers talk about the quality of light, the presentation of a vision or some other spiritual interpretation surrounding their photography and their reason for doing it. Which can all be legitimate and profound, however for me it is much simpler, I have no choice. Photography is something that I have to do, it chose me and it has been a labor of love ever since. That’s how I approach my photography, as a love affair with life, with a need as strong as breathing. My images are the result and it’s here when viewing an image, if a person is transported to the scene or can feel the emotion, then for that one instant, I’ve shared some small part of myself and the world we all inhabit.