Sheila Ross

Pour Installation - 1996

Artist Statement

Sheila Ross is a Canadian artist currently residing in New York and pursuing a MFA degree at NYU. She is primarily a sculptor/installation artist but also makes a lot of drawings. "Mywork is all about debris, the messiness and the beauty of it. I am obsessed with the idea that asthe world becomes more clean and sterile with the technological developments that have beencreated under the premise that it improves the quality of life, there is still going to be garbage,dust bunnies and shit." I embrace the shit and mess and the tension between the sturdiness yetthe fragility and fleetingness of it all. I am interested in the obsolescence of the object.Obsolescence is a phenomena that has been built into the technocratic world. Nothing is made tolast anymore, or the state of the art machine becomes outdated all too quickly. I call it thekeeping up with the Jones' phenomena, but I am a neo-luddite. My work is material,experiential, dirty and earthy. So really there is fleetingness in everything the post industrialand the low tech. After all, life is messy and so is my work." This is exemplified in aninstallation entitled "Pour." Sheila has created an installation using dozens of cast teapots. Theteapots have been cast from handmade paper and tea. The acidity of the tea undermines theintactness of the paper by implying that these objects will break down over time. Also some ofthe pots have been dissolved into the floor of the gallery or have been placed in casts of platesthat have been filled with water. The notion of ritual is very evident in this piece both throughthe ritual and ceremony of drinking tea and the obsessive nature of making the objects. The "Pour" installation evokes notions about dissolution, disintegration, ebb and flow.

Sheila is interested in making marks and objects that are fragile, unstable and temporal. Themark can manifest itself in a washy painterly drawing or residue of tea and paper on the floor.The residue or the mark that the hand or the object made is the issue.

Artist Bio

SHEILA ROSS Born in Ottawa, Canada, 1965

Solo Exhibitions

September 1993 "Recent Work" Arcadia Gallery, Toronto, Canada
August 1990 "Muse" Installation, Artefect, Toronto, Canada
April 1988 "Recent Work" BFA Thesis Exhibition, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

Selected Group Exhibitions

July 1996 "Delirious" Eighth Floor Gallery, 476 Broadway, New York, NY
May 1996 "The Art Market" GenArt Group Exhibition, 450 West 15 th St, 4th Floor, New York, New York
February1996 "Twentieth Annual Small Works Competition," 80 Washington Sq.E Galleries, New York, N ew York (juried by Edward Thorp)
February 1996 "Off The Wall" South Lobby, Loeb Student Center, 566 La Guardia Place, New York University, New York
June 1995 "The Artist Garden", Portfoolio Gallery, Etobicoke, ON, Canada
May 1995 "The Feminine Viewpoint" The 3rd Annual National Storefront Exhibition: Jacob, Jacob Mississauga Square One Location, Mississauga, ON, Canada (juried)
February 1995 "Exhibition of Submissions to Ecolage: An Environmental Public Art Ideas Competition", The Rotunda, City Hall, Toronto, ON, Canada (juried)
May 1994 "The Feminine Viewpoint" The 2nd Annual National Storefront Exhibition: Jacob, Jacob Hazelton Lanes Location, Toronto, ON, Canada (juried)
January 1994 "Allied To Paper" Curated by John Massier, Koffler Gallery, North York, ON, Canada
July 1992 "Artefect III", Workscene Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada
June 1992 "Round Up 1992", 1400 Dupont #248, Toronto, ON, Canada
June 1991 "Round Up 1991", Rhino Bar and Grille, Toronto, ON, Canada
May 1991 "Artefect Members Show", Artefect, Toronto, ON, Canada
December 1990 "Everything You Ever Wanted For Xmas But Were Afraid To Ask For... Silent Auction", Artefect, Toronto, ON, Canada (juried)
December 1989 "Juried Xmas Group Show", Artefect, Toronto, ON, Canada
March 1988 Graduating Exhibition, Curated by Jamelie Hassan, Marnie Fleming and Robert Belton, Mackintosh Gallery, London, Canada
February 1988 Cleveland State Photo Exchange Group Exhibition, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Performances

April 1988 "Nieomsk" Helmut Becker and Sheila Ross, Forest City Performance Festival, Forest City Gallery, London, ON, Canada
April 1986 "Under The Western Wall", participant, Performance by Daniela Snepova, Forest City Gallery, London, ON, Canada

Education

September 1995-present MFA (Studio Art), New York University, New York, NY, USA
1984 - 1988 BFA, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

Teaching Experience

September 1995 - present New Student Seminar for Studio Art Freshmen and Transfer Students, New York University, New York, NY, USA,
February - April 1994 Children's Art Action Group Facilitator, East End Health Services, Toronto, ON, Canada
May 1989 - Summer 1994 Art Instructor and Program Developer, Dept. of Parks and(ongoing) Recreation, Riverdale
October 1989 - May 1990 Environmental Education Outreach Co-ordinator, Public Focus on The Great Lakes, Toronto, ON, Canada
Sept.1987 - May 1988 Teaching Assistant, Foundation Studio Course, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
Sept 1987 - May 1988 Print Monitor, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

Related Work Experience

August 1992 - Sept 1995 Associate Talent Agent and Office Manager, Butler Ruston Bell Talent, Toronto, ON, Canada
October 1989 - July 1992 Member and Associate Co-ordinator, Artefect Gallery, Toronto, On, Canada
August 1988 - May 1992 Visual Display Artist, The Pottery Shop, Fusion: The Ontario Clay and Glass Association, Toronto, ON, Canada
June 1988 - August 1988 Artist Apprentice for Helmut Becker, Komoka, ON, Canada

Awards

September 1995 - present Graduate Assistantship, New York University
July 1993 Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council

Bibliography

"Jacob fund-raiser:" Globe and Mail, Fashion and Design Section, Toronto, On, Canada, June 19,1995
L'Art Au Feminin, The Feminine Viewpoint: Works by Contemporary Women Artists ExhibitionCatalogue, "The 2nd Annual National Storefront Exhibition" Jacob, May 1994
Kalico, Hanna, "Artefect - No Fixed Address", Workscene Magazine , July 1992