Sheila Thompson

Resume:

Sheila Thompson moved her fibre art practice to a studio in Guelph from Toronto in 2021 and now works full-time as a fibre artist. She has been making fine art felts for 15 years and has shown work in many exhibitions in Toronto and elsewhere. Her lifelong interest in ecology and environmental impact drives her art subject matter. Techniques of wet felting provide the freedom and capability to create her 3d topographic maps and felted hollow forms. Photography, dying, printing and embroidery contribute to the rich palette of surface features.She is thrilled to now belong to the Connection Fibre Artists group linked here.

Education: Ph.D., McGill University, Geography specializing in tropical weed invasions; range dynamics; selftaught fibre artist since 2004.

Felting and Textile workshops since 2018 with Fiona Duthie, Pamela DeGroot, Natalie Grambow, Nicola Brown, Catherine O’Leary

Professional Affiliations:

• Co-representative for subregion 18 Canada for the International Feltmakers Association

• Member: Connections Fibre Artists (https://www.connectionsfibreartists.com/index.html)

• Member: Ecoartspace- Soil Dialogues project; Member Carolinian Canada

• Member Craft Ontario;Member Studio Art Quilt Association (SAQA) Member: Artists’ Network

• Recording Secretary – Guelph Studio Tour 2022-

• Member and chair exhibition committee of felt::feutre Canada 2017-2019

• Co-creator, with Fiona Duthie and Sandra Barrett, of the felt-feutre Canada online exhibitions, Transitions and Words, Shrine

• Coordinator/Curator with Melanie Siegel of the National touring textile exhibition “Edge of the Forest”

• Presentation to the Surface Design Association Conference, Tennessee 2015 on the making of the above exhibition.

• Board Member – Artists’ Network 2012 to January 2016, www.artistsnetwork.ca

• Chair Beach Studio Tour 2007-2011; Executive – Marketing Strategy – 2011

• Vice-Chair, Volunteer Committee, Textile Museum of Canada – 2012-2013 Treasurer, Volunteer Committee, Textile Museum of Canada – 2007-2010

Publications:  

2020/21 -Three self-published books chronicling the waves of Covid-19 as they impact Toronto. The books are photographs of a large felted mask posed in various contexts throughout Toronto.  

2022/23 – Earthkeeping – submission on the value of observing geese for EcoartSpace

Art Platforms

Member of Partial art platform by invitation

Grants and Awards 2023

Winner 3-dimensional art award, Insights 2023 Exhibition, Wellington County Museum, Fergus 2016 Ontario Arts Council Grant with Melanie Siegel for the “Edge of the Fores” National travelling textile exhibition

Selected Juried Exhibitions since 2016

Solo and Two Person Shows

2023 “Fabricators” with Bev Daniels, Leslie Grove Gallery, Toronto

2023, 2022 – Insights Exhibition, Wellington County Museum

2019- “Wax and Wool” with Sue McNenly, Elora

2023- Sterotype Smash, King Heritage and Cultural Centre

2017 “Between the Layers” with Bev Quinn, Studio 888

 Group Exhibitions

2023,2022-Toronto Outdoor Art Fair

2023-2012 – Riverdale Art Walk 2016 – “Resilience”, Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, Toronto 2023,2022 – Guelph Studio Tour

2022 –Our World: the Worry and the Wonder, International Women’s Day – Leslie Grove Gallery, Toronto

2021- View from Here, Leslie Grove Gallery

2020 - Where do we Land, Daily Rituals, Vital Signs (International Women’s Day)

2022, 2020, 2016 – Ecoart Show, Gallery 1313, Toronto

2019 – Momentum, Leslie Grove Gallery, Toronto

2018 – Shrine, B.C. Craft Council, Vancouver

2018 2017 – Rosedale Art Show, Toronto

2016, 2018 – Canadian Contemporary Felt Symposium, Penticton, and Nova Scotia