In the studio with… Sheila Vollmer

How long have you been at APT?
Since the beginning in 1996. I helped clear the building and carried bricks to the bricklayers as the studio spaces were created.

Describe APT in three words...
Supportive, Unique, Resilient

What is your practice and how do you like to work in your studio?
Sculpture and Installation. The studio is my safe space, think space, me space. It takes me awhile for my head to get in gear each day, so I always have a physical task that I have set myself the day before like drilling or sanding before making decisions.

Which artists have influenced you?
Too many to list, but studying and coming from Canada in the early 80’s to the UK in the late 80’s I was in search of Women artists as much for their work as how they survived doing it: Barbara Hepworth, Kathe Kollwitz, Eva Hesse, Louise Bourgeois, Barbara Caruso (Canadian painter), Collette Whitten, Jane Joseph, Jackie Askew and Mali Morris. Some of the blokes that have influenced me; my first sculpture tutor John Fillion, in Canada and here in the UK the dedicated working practices modelling for painter Euan Uglow and as technician for Sir Antony Caro. .

What is the most unusual thing someone might find in your studio?
A printed packaging cardboard for Powdered Milk written in French used as support for a poem sent to me by my Canadian poet friend Nelson Ball. It reminds me of him, his poetry and my Canadian roots with all advertised goods by law written in both English and French.