Exhibitions and Events – Sheila Foundation

Exhibitions and Events

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We’re proud to be one of the Dangerous Women Don

We’re proud to be one of the Dangerous Women Donors supporting ‘Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940’ at @agsa.adelaide - an exhibition that shines a light on the bold and influential work of Australian women artists working abroad in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

On display until the 7th September, Dangerously Modern is the first major exhibition to explore the vital role of Australian women in the development of international modernism. Featuring works by 50 trailblazing artists, the show reclaims their place in European art history and highlights how their ideas and experiences helped shape cultural change at home.

As part of the donor campaign, each supporter was paired with an artist from the exhibition - and for Sheila Foundation, that artist is Helen Stewart (1900–1983), a New Zealand-born artist who worked between Australia, London and Paris, and travelled to Japan and China in the 1930s. Pictured here is one of her striking 1930s portraits, capturing what she described as “ultra-fashionably frocked and tanned young women.”

Sheila Foundation’s involvement honours the decades of work led by Lady Sheila and John Cruthers in advocating for gender equity in Australian art.

Image 1: Helen Stewart, Portrait of a woman in red, c.1930s, Sydney
Image 2: Former Sheila chair John Cruthers with the Helen Stewart work Portrait of a woman in red (1930s) at the opening of Dangerously Modern.
Image 3: Sheila chair Kelly Gellatly speaking at the Dangerously Modern Women’s Lunch

#DangerouslyModern #HelenStewart #AustralianWomenArtists #SheilaFoundation #GenderEquityInArt #AGSA

Radical imaginings: Feminism, protest and cultural

Radical imaginings: Feminism, protest and cultural power
Sunday 29 June, 2–3pm
Free event: RSVP via @maph_photography

We’re proud to support this panel talk, which brings together trailblazing voices reshaping Australia’s cultural landscape: Kyla McFarlane, Meredith Rogers, Kelly Gellatly (curator of Protest is a Creative Act and Chair of the Sheila Foundation), and Elvis Richardson (artist, activist, and founder of The Countess Report). Together, they’ll explore the role of feminist protest in shaping the nation’s cultural institutions - from radical performance and publishing in the 1970s to today’s ongoing battles for equity, representation, and structural change.

This conversation will weave together personal memories and political insights, reflecting on how protest operates not only on the streets, but within archives, exhibitions, and imagery.

Kyla McFarlane is a curator and writer focusing on lens‑based, feminist, performative, and emerging art across Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Meredith Rogers, Honorary Associate at La Trobe University, was pivotal in the establishment of the Women’s Art Register (1975) and worked on the groundbreaking Lip magazine (1976–1984), going on to curate and write extensively across theatre, academia, and the visual arts. #FeministArt #CountessReport #SheilaFoundation #ProtestIsACreativeAct #GenderEquityInArt

SHEILA NEWS - John Cruthers appointed as Emeritus

SHEILA NEWS - John Cruthers appointed as Emeritus Director of the Sheila Foundation Board!

Former Sheila Foundation Chair and longstanding board member John Cruthers has been appointed Emeritus Director upon his retirement this week from the foundation for Australian women’s art and artists that he founded in 2017.

John Cruthers led Sheila Foundation as it transitioned from the private Cruthers Art Foundation to a public foundation in 2017. Under John’s guidance, Sheila Foundation developed and implemented far-reaching and impactful programs for women in the visual arts and led the way in advocating for and actioning equality for Australian women artists, past and present. John handed over the position of Chair of the board to curator, writer and arts advocate, Kelly Gellatly, in 2022, remaining on the board to lead the historical women’s art research project ‘Into the Light’. John’s decision to retire from the Board will enable him to focus on his important contribution as an advocate for southeast Asian art in Australia, and to spend more time with his family.

The Sheila Foundation board warmly thanks John for being such a crusader for Australian women artists, and for his vision and dedication. He will remain both a guide and inspiration.

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Past EVENTS

The Sheila Network Inaugural Event

25 July 2019

Sheila meets Nora

19 November 2019

Trying to find comfort in an uncomfortable chair

26 July – 6 October 2019