Sheila Woollam

Sheila graduated from De Montfort University, where she studied Graphic Design, in 1985. Starting her creative career as a designer and director of animation in Soho, London, Sheila worked at the forefront of the nascent computer animation industry. In July 2020, after a break from the creative industry, Sheila returned to the art world and opened her print studio, BlackCatsOnMopeds. The figurative landscapes Sheila prints begin as sketches and photos collected on solo, bike-packing pilgrimages. Back in the studio, Sheila transposes her images through copperplate etching combined with aqua tints. To add colour to the dark, tonal quality often associated with her work Sheila has been exploring carborundum and mono printing. “I have a connection with the landscape that is best described as ‘sensitive’. I perceive through the senses, the myths and the folklore of the land I travel through. Sometimes it is the legend behind a place that informs a trip, or the feeling and subsequent story uncovered after a journey that is captured in my work. Whilst the precision of a print's rendering, as well as its appeal to the viewer, is important, if it fails to evoke the story, that lost history, then I return to the source and begin again”