6   THE ART OBSERVER July 2006 Sea, landscape, jugs and bowls of fruit inspire Sheila’s still lifes Forthcoming Exhibition SHEILA MEEKS is one of the founding members of MASA (Manchester Artists Studio Association), initially set up in Granby Row in 1982. Sheila’s love of the sea and landscape provides her with the inspiration she needs to produce her distinctive and wonderful paintings. The objects in her still life paintings generally include a jug or a bowl and a piece of fruit, and are often placed in front of a backdrop of a sea view with boats in the distance. She likes to keep the subject matter simple so that it is the painting itself, with its colour, shape and texture, that is the essence and main focus of the work. The objects in the painting serve only as a vehicle to transmit the elements of her work. Cornwall is one of the places she has most enjoyed painting. Capturing the raw beauty of the little harbours in her abstracted and distinctive style. She portrays the solitary, undulat- ing and earthy qualities of the surrounding landscape near her home, rarely including figures, which, in most cases, would be an unnecessary distraction in her paintings. Sheila has produced, however, a small number of paint- ings where figures have been an essential part of her subject matter. Her work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and has been included in other exhibitions in London. Her work has been purchased by the Rutherstone Collection, Manchester Art Gallery and The Reader’s Digest Collection in New York. In 2004 Sheila had an extremely successful solo show at the Wendy Levy Gallery in Didsbury and is being welcomed back for her second solo show there in November of this year. Harbour Yellow Bowl Blue and White Still Life PATRICIA’S RAISON-D’ÊTRE By Sarah Crane PATRICIA NIEMIRA is an artist and printmaker whose work has been exhibited internationally and has been drawing for as far back as she can remember. When she was very young and her mother was in hospital, Patricia would send pictures to brighten her day. Throughout her school days, she continued with her passion to draw, often doodling in lessons which didn’t involve art in the lesson plan! Patricia’s artistic influences have changed as she has become more exposed to a wider variety of artists and techniques. Since she developed a love of printmaking, she has taken an avid interest in work with a narrative such as Ana Marie Pacheco and Francisco de Goya. Reading is also one of Patricia’s favourite activities; she admires many children’s book illustrators such as Arthur Rackham and particularly the nursery rhyme etchings of Paulo Rego. Experimentation is one of Patricia’s maxims to live and work by. In her art, she thoroughly enjoys attempting different creative processes such as etching, drypoint, monoprint and collagraph techniques to explore landscape, flowers and still life studies. She feels her most success has been gained using collagraph printmaking techniques which “embody all that is exciting about using a variety of materials within the framework of printmaking”. Patricia has recently started using another printmaking technique, chine collé, in which she incorporates torn pieces of fine, coloured paper within her prints. When asked if she finds painting therapeutic, Patricia denies that she has ever seen it in this light and instead paints because it is her ‘raison-d’être’ (reason for being). She believes that her work is changing and improving gradually with the help of her own constructive criticism which comes naturally as an artist. Currently, Patricia spends part of the year in England and part of the year in France where she has her main studio. Patricia Niemera will be one of the artists featured in the new book “A Colourful Canvas - Twelve Women Artists in the Northwest”, published by Wendy J Levy Contemporary Art Ltd, to be released in December 2006. Hot House Flowers Intramuros II