SHEILA VOLLMER
Canadian born, Sheila Vollmer attended the University of Guelph, Ontario before studying sculpture at St. Martin's School of Art, London (1987). Her practice is now based in London where she is also Sculpture Program Manager at Morley College.
Exhibitions include Cass Sculpture Foundation, Flowers Gallery Central, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Chelsea Flower Show (commission), the Wood Sculpture Museum in Taiwan and the Guggenheim Collection, Venice.
Awards include the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Public & private collections include The Prudential plc London and an upcoming public sculpture commission to be installed July 2020 for Integral Powertrain Ltd in Milton Keynes.
SPRING, 2019 (installed at Burghley sculpture garden summer exhibit, Lincs, 2019)
Painted and rusted steel, 300cm high x 45cm wide x 45cm deep
From: Lionel Phillips - The Sculptures of Sheila Vollmer
‘When we observe one of Vollmer’s sculptures two qualities emerge as paramount: geometric complexity within a deceptive simplicity and what may be described as “interiorness”. The geometry proceeds not from a preconceived idea but as a natural consequence of the aesthetic of the forms that constitute it. It is not the geometry of Euclid. If we attempt to follow a line it comes upon an impasse or is subverted by another line that itself teases the eye into a linear cull de sac. Consequently we cannot visually segment the work into its parts but are constrained to perceive it as a totality. Each sculpture in its different way encompasses a hollow at its centre. Its effect is to soften the hard edges of the material and to lead us into its heart. We sense that we can pass beyond the unyielding angles, verticals and horizontals into a space that is created by form but is not formalist.
‘Sheila Vollmer’s sculpture owes nothing to figuration or mimesis yet it invokes the natural world which surrounds us.’
Skirting board wall works MASK, ENWRAP & SPACE INVADER, shown in 'Teeth Stronger Than Diamond' exhibition 2018, The Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon, Co Clare, Ireland
STRETCHED, 2018 Installation as part of 'Mind the Art' show 2018
The Art Academy Gallery, London SE1
Polypropylene rope, eyelet fixings, & dexion metal angle,
3.5m high x 6.5m wide x 6m deep (boxes 60cm sq)
Constructing in various materials including wood, steel, Perspex and rope, I explore line, form, space, rhythm and mood within a systematic process of making. The structure of the work, the nature of the material, the methods of making and gravity are all interdependent. The work arrives at a necessity of construction through the making process by replicating and improvising with basic units of form. The element of surprise and mood is accentuated by colour as well as when the work touches the surface it rests on and responds to the space it is in with its inherent, ever-changing viewpoints. SV, 2020
SIGN, 2016 Painted steel
60cm high x 30cm wide x 60cm deep
In 2018, Sheila Vollmer took part in a collaborative project for the VTB Spirit of Cornwall Garden which culminated in a performance by Constella Opera Ballet (Artistic Director Leo Geyer). The project was conducted with architecture by Studio Evans Lane and garden design by Stuart Charles Towner.
BLUE LIFT 1, 2018 for Chelsea Flower show (VTB Spirit of Cornwall Garden)
Primed painted steel & tinted Perspex, 195cm high x 35cm wide x 35cm deep
In 2015 Sheila Vollmer was selected by Jane Joseph to be Artist of the Day at Flowers Gallery, London.
The one-week exhibition showcases the work of five artists, nominated by prominent figures in contemporary art. The criteria for selection is talent, originality, promise and the ability to benefit from a one-day solo exhibition of their work at Flowers Gallery, Cork Street. In this talk, the pair discuss Sheila's diverse choice of materials against the backdrop of a site-specific installation constructed for this one-day exhibition.
LINKS
Sheila Vollmer is part of the collective This Stuff Matters with Gillian Brent, Alexandra Harley and Jill Gibson
She is also a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors
W-RAP, 2017 Painted steel, 22cm high x 10cm wide x 10cm deep