Media Room
Contact:
t. 509.714.2526
e. sheila(at)sheilaevans.net
High-resolution images are available to the media within 24 hours upon request.
What’s New:
New Gallery Representation:
In addition to the Tinman and Art at Work galleries in Spokane, and Northwest by Northwest Gallery in Cannon Beach, Oregon, I am now represented by the lovely Cole Gallery in Edmonds, Washington.
6″ Squared Exhibit:
Two of my 6″ x 6″ miniature landscape pastels were chosen for inclusion in the 6″ Squared exhibit at Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa, California. The exhibition and sale opens December 3rd with a gala artists’ reception from 5 to 9 p.m., and runs through December 23rd.
Museum Purchase and Award at the Salon International of Pastels in Saint Aulaye, Dordogne, France:
In 2010 I was fortunate enough to have some of my work published in the French pastel magazine, Pratique des Arts. That lucky encounter was a gift that kept giving. Soon after, I received a lovely email from Michel Bordas, a well-known and highly accomplished French pastelist and president of the Pastel Association of Perigord. He invited me to participate in the Salon International of Pastels in Saint Aulaye, Dordogne, in the southwest region of France. The exhibit ran August 13 – 28, 2011 and included work from 70 pastellists from around the world. Pratique des Arts ran a four-page feature on my work, “Au Coeur du Monde Végétal,” to coincide with the salon. After the salon ended, I received news that my work had earned the Award for Creativity (and thus a set of 75 Girault pastels), and that the town of St. Aulaye had purchased one of my pastels, Night Flight Study, for its newly-inaugurated pastel museum.
Providence Regional Medical Center Everett Art Project
After a long selection process, I was chosen as a contributor to the Providence Regional Medical Center Art Project in Everett. They commissioned me to create a 3′ x 4′ oil painting based on my earlier work, Ascension, pictured below. The piece was shipped to the representatives’ office in May, where it was re-stretched and framed for installation in Everett. The piece now resides in an alcove in the medical center’s tenth floor lobby.
The Spokesman-Review
Jennifer Larue has written a thoughtful feature piece on my artwork, process and studio. Read it here.
Signals Magazine
An article by Kate Spencer corresponding to my 2011 Spokane Club show can be seen here. Article begins on page 18.
Events at a Glance:
Edmonds Third Thursday Art Walk, Cole Gallery, Edmonds, December 15, 2011
Best of 2011, Small Paintings, Sculptures and Mixed Media: Tinman Gallery, Spokane, WA, December 2–31 2011
6″ Squared Exhibit, Randy Higbee Gallery, Costa Mesa, December 3–23 2011
Solo Exhibit: Tinman Gallery, Spokane, WA, April 2012
Recent News at a Glance:
Museum Purchase, St. Aulaye Pastel Museum, Saint Aulaye, Dordogne, France
Award for Creativity (75 Girault Pastels), Salon International of Pastels in Saint Aulaye, Dordogne, France
Best of Drawing, Sun Valley Arts and Crafts Festival, 2011
“Au Coeur du Monde Végétal,” Pratique des Art Pastel Special Edition feature article, June 2011
The Art:
Pastel Journal Feature Article Excerpts:
“Grasses, leaves and flowers take center stage in the work of Pacific Northwest artist, Sheila M. Evans. Closely-cropped and in various stages of growth—twisting, mingling and folding—they fill and overflow the page. By magnifying these simple forms, Evans pulls us into a space that is at once refined and fluid. Bathing her subjects in soft, iridescent light, she conjures and otherworldliness that approaches abstraction.”
“What most characterizes Evans’ finely nuanced paintings is a sense of mystery and fluidity. The sinuous leaves, moving in and out of light, beckon us along their undulating pathways, all the while entrancing us with their ethereal beauty. To encounter these paintings is to enter an otherworldly realm at once beguiling and soothing: it’s to yield to a primordial energy—one that stirs as imperceptibly as leaves do.”
- Christine Proskow. “Up Close & Botanical.” The Pastel Journal 52 (October 2007): 54 – 60
Bio
Sheila Evans paints nature from a unique perspective and enjoys descriptions of her work ranging from “ethereal” to “creepy.” She first worked in pastels and oils in while in college, earning her bachelor’s degree in fine art from Gonzaga University in 1988. She began her professional career in galleries in 1996, eventually expanding to art fairs because she is a workaholic. Sheila has painted primarily in pastel for the past twenty years, leading The Pastel Journal magazine to feature her artwork and processes in an October 2007 article. She rediscovered oil painting in 2008 beginning with her “Fifty Oils Project,” and loves it more each day. Sheila’s work in both pastel and oil is shown and collected nationally.
Quotes:
“Sheila Evans’s work is beautiful, lyrical and sensitive. She draws like a demon and her subtle, intuitive sense of color makes me think of Turner or Constable – or the hues you hear in a Yo-Yo Ma cello solo.
- Ben Mitchell, Senior Curator of Art, Northwest Museum of Art and Culture
“Ever notice how the sunset seems to burst forth with exuberant color just before the sun dies into the horizon? That’s the feeling of a Sheila Evans pastel. Her luxurious pastels and oil paintings are infused with color, even as the extreme close-ups of leaves, petals, seedpods and other vegetation twist and turn in the last vestiges of life. The color, although permanent, seems fleeting, enhanced by the small, intimate marks that are characteristic of pastel. Her paintings hum with energy.”
– Carrie Scozzaro. The Pacific Northwest Inlander (February 4 – 10, 2010): 21
Contact:
t. 509.714.2526
e. sheila(at)sheilaevans.net
High-resolution images are available to the media within 24 hours upon request.