Like people who see colours in numbers, Shirley Williams has painted a world of quantum physics.

“We are all connected,” said the Windsor artist, whose exhibit Forces of Nature opens this Friday at the Art Gallery of Windsor.

But whereas a mathematician demonstrates the interaction of energy and matter with numbers, Williams does it with acrylics. ”There is more of a emphasis on spirituality and the idea of quantum physics that we’re all connected at some level,” Williams said in describing how the dozens of works in her show share a common theme.

Forces of Nature is dominated by three massive works at the centre of the exhibit. The three works as a group are also titled Forces of Nature, Williams explained, and function as a triptych. ”The paintings are like an allegory of our world today. We’re living in an imperfect world. We’re all afraid and on edge, and it’s not all prettiness and nature. ”But I have this feeling that we are going to experience massive change in our thinking in the next few years. It’s not an end-of-the-world thing, but something positive, a new approach to how we live our lives.”

It’s a spiritual shift in the paradigm, she suggested. ”I see it happening now where there is less emphasis on commercialism and acquisition and more emphasis on spirituality.”

Forces of Nature is Williams’s first solo exhibition at the AGW.

She moved to Windsor in 1991 after spending the first several years of her professional life in Toronto as a documentary filmmaker. Without any formal art training, Williams decided to devote her life to the visual arts.

“I’ve always wanted to paint since I was a child,” she said.  Her father was in the military, so Williams moved around a lot growing up. During a visit to the Louvre in Paris as a girl she had a calling.  ”I was looking at the Mona Lisa,” she said. “People say the eyes follow you, which is true. But for me, the work also spoke to me and  I decided I would become an artist one day.”

The exhibit was a commission by James Patten, former art curator at the gallery. ”Two years ago, he asked me to create a series that would be site-specific,” said Williams, meaning it would be designed to fit into the third floor’s south gallery.

“It was a huge challenge. I was biting my nails for a year worrying about what to paint. It’s a whole different approach for me.”  It also required her to change her way of painting. The large works in the Forces of Nature triptych were done with the canvas on the floor, in the style of Jackson Pollock.

“I’ve always painted on a wall, and worked as if I were walking through the canvas. But as soon as I put it on the floor and looked down at it, I felt all this energy coming up at me as if from the earth. It opened up the works and made them more expansive.”

Shirley Williams’ Forces of Nature opens with a reception at 7 p.m. Friday. The exhibit continues through March 1.

tshaw@windsorstar.com