Sheila Whittam – MINDSCAPES
Sheila Whittam – MINDSCAPES
September 21 - November 10, 2024
Gallery 2
Exhibition launch Sunday September 29 at 2-4pm
Guest Opening Speaker Anna Zagala - Curator Samstag Museum of Art
I create mindscapes – abstract windows into the state of my mind, the perceptions, imaginations and consciousness.
I begin to see more as I work on these ideas, especially thoughts in the abstract. They might be faint glimmers or strong confronting images. Thoughts come when I least expect it. They may be tangible things, a feeling or something from the past, an influence, a messy or orderly thing, neat or chaotic, or even foreboding.
Usually, I recognise the something of the unconscious on my substrate as I work. I often can just let it flow while I work – deliberately and purposely, extending it further into my work. I am in a liminal space between the mind’s eye and the process of painting using various materials by cultivating this further ; often using collage or monoprints stashed in studio drawers.
As I step back and look into what my creativity is telling me, each move might be connecting to a further idea. Although I sometimes create chaos I know I must work forwards towards order. This influences me as I engage with materials and the elements of abstract design which are fundamental to my compositional aesthetics using layers of mixed materials, oil paints and cold wax medium (the medium helps it dry much more quickly than oil paint alone).
This series reveals who I am, a soul perhaps searching for higher truths. I am most vulnerable at the point of exhibiting as all artists are. Some of the titles of the works are descriptive of the thought patterns of the unconscious mind which seem to flow in and out like a tidal ocean.
Open studio. Visit Sheila in her Hahndorf Studio from 11am-3pm
2/21 Braun Drive, Hahndorf. Close to Hahndorf Academy
October Thursday 3rd Friday 4th Saturday 5th
October Thursday 10th Friday 11th Saturday 12th
November Wednesday 6th Thursday 7th Friday 8th Saturday 9th
Bio
Sheila is an Adelaide Hills artist, originally from Britain and lives and works in Hahndorf. She is confidently experimental and contemporary in her 2 D approach to art making by using mixed media, monotypes, encaustic work and drawing etc.
With a BA including an Honours year at Adelaide Central School of Art (ACSA) Sheila has had 24 solo exhibitions including a SALA Award, 3 arts residencies and a finalist in several arts prizes including the Heysen Prize for Landscape at Hahndorf Academy and the National Contemporary Art Prize in Canberra.