The Sheila Network inaugural event. Photo by: Krysta Guille.
Advocacy for Artists
Since launch, Sheila Foundation has created different ways to support contemporary Australian women artists to overcome roadblocks in their careers and to gain momentum.
The Sheila Network
Sheila has started collaborating with women artists and visual arts workers to find ways to come together to create opportunities for them to share knowledge, skills, experiences and opportunities. The first Sheila Network event was held at John Curtin Gallery in Perth in late 2021. We look forward to developing this program further based on the input and feedback of women in the visual arts sector.
Champions Donor Circle
Members of the Donor Circle make it possible for acquisitions of artworks by contemporary women artists to be added to the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art. This allows the Collection to develop and importantly provides Australian women artists with financial support and encouragement for their practices and reputations. Donors make a commitment of $1,000 a year for 3 years.
Events, Blogs, Publications and Collaborations
Sheila promotes the work of contemporary artists and emerging art historians through events, publications, blogs, social media and collaborations. The Foundation also acquires works to gift to appropriate public collections, including the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art. For example, we were delighted to announce the purchase of three significant colourfield paintings by Australian women artists at the launch of Sheila in May 2019.
Despite being small, Sheila is effective and agile. One of the ways we do this is through collaborations and partnerships. Two of our key partnerships are with The University of Western Australia and The Countess Report. We also collaborate with Australian art organisations including the National Association for the Visual Arts, the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art and Museums and Galleries New South Wales. We will continue to grow these relationships and new collaborations, recognising that together we can make big things happen.
Explore our blog
Artist Spotlight: Deborah Prior
Deborah Prior is an Adelaide-based artist who uses knitting, stitching and embroidery to transforms recycled textiles into art works, soft sculptures and installations that explore
Artist Spotlight: Gladys Laycock (1882-1959)
Why is a women’s art foundation acquiring a portrait of a Scotsman in a kilt? Because it was painted by little known Sydney artist Gladys Laycock. From 1908, Gladys ma
Colleague Spotlight: Lainie Edwards
As part of our ambition to share our passion for the work of Australian women artists, Sheila would like to introduce current projects by colleagues – curators, art historians, r
Artist Spotlight: Virginia Ward
Virginia Ward focuses upon her face in her multifaceted sculptural work as seen above. Repurposing off cuts of wood used in the making of ukuleles, mandolins and guitars by luthier
Artist Spotlight: Rhonda Sharpe
Born in 1977, Rhonda Sharpe is an Luritja artist who works for the art centre Yarrenyty Arltere in Alice Springs. The centre has a focus on soft sculpture made with recycled blanke
Exhibition Review: Zahalkaworld – An Artist’s Archive
History Afresh, Zahalka Style ZAHALKAWORLD – an artist’s archive Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne, 10 June – 10 September 2023 By Andonis Piperoglou. Anne ZAHALKA,
Exhibition Review: Clarice Beckett: The Present Moment
Celebrating the known, honouring the intangible Clarice Beckett: The Present MomentArt Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 27 February – 16 May 2021 By Juliette Peers Altho
Sheila Foundation Announces the 2023 Michela and Adrian Fini Artist Fellowship
Artist Alana Hunt has been awarded the Foundation’s third Fini Fellowship, an opportunity that will allow her to create a body of new work for her forthcoming solo exhibition
Artist Spotlight: Gemma Ben-Ary
A recent acquisition by Perth-based artist Gemma Ben-Ary is included in the current exhibition From the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Per
Sheila Foundation announces second Michela and Adrian Fini Artist Fellowship
Sheila Foundation – A Foundation for Women in Visual Art has announced the awarding of the 2022 Michela and Adrian Fini Artist Fellowship. Brisbane-based artist Natalya Hughes ha
Celebrating Carol Rudyard
In this section we profile West Australian artist Carol Rudyard who recently passed away. One of her important works, Untitled 1970, is held by the Cruthers Collecti
What have women ever done anyway?
A cautionary tale of selective memory and the West Australian women painters, Elizabeth Ford and Dorothy Newland, in focus. Written by Lynda Newland. West Australian women who pain
Sheila Foundation announces inaugural Michela and Adrian Fini Artist Fellowship
Sheila – A Foundation for Women in Visual Art has announced the inaugural Michela and Adrian Fini Artist Fellowship valued at $20,000. Sydney-based artist Salote Tawale has been
Artist Spotlight: Aline Cusack (1867-1949)
Aline Cusack, born in 1867 in New Zealand and brought up in Newcastle and Sydney, was a prominent professional Sydney-based artist who worked from the 1890s to the 1930s. Her siste
Artist Spotlight: Erica McGilchrist (1926–2014)
Erica McGilchrist was an artist as well as a dancer, designer, curator, teacher, activist, feminist and humanist. She was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia to Stevenson George
Into the Light: Elaine Coghlan (1897-1989)
Into the Light: Recovering Australia’s lost women artists 1870-1960 is Sheila’s national research project to collect data about women artists in Australia. One such artist was
Artist Spotlight: Elvis Richardson
The Countess Report was founded by Elvis Richardson as a blog in 2008. In collaboration with Amy Prcevich and Miranda Samuels, Elvis has grown The Countess Report into a regular, c
Artist Spotlight: Sera Waters
Sheila’s Champions Donor Circle provides funds for the purchase of new works by younger and mid-career artists to be added to the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art at UWA. One
Untold Stories: Janet Dawson, Over the Rainbow
Janet Dawson (b. 1935) trained as a printmaker and worked in the lithography workshop at Gallery A in Sydney in the 1960s. She was one of only three women out of 40 artists invited
Artist Spotlight: Danielle Freakley
Danielle Freakley is a Seychellois-Australian artist, a first selection finalist of the Arte Laguna Prize (Venice Arsenale), exhibited at Tate (Liverpool Biennial), Performa –
Artist Spotlight: Rima Zabaneh
Artist Rima Zabaneh writes the inspiration behind her work Street Directory. “In late 1990, I emigrated to Perth from Jordan with my partner and three children, in the hope of b