Sheila Jewell

   Sheila was born in Chicago, Ill and her family moved every few years in the Midwest to places such as Greenbay and Wausau, Wisconsin; and Waterloo, Iowa.

After attending nursing school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, she moved to Denver, Colorado to work as an RN in the emotionally intense fields of kidney, liver transplant and cancer chemotherapy. KU Med Center recruited her to work in bone marrow transplant, a new field there.

   She had always wanted to be an artist and teach art history as a profession. When possible she took college or advanced figure drawing classes along with her high school art classes. But, feeling a family responsibility to go to nursing school and practice cancer nursing,  she delayed that dream for about 30 years. After a complete switch, and  sharing the program manager position of The Society of Fellows at The Nelson Atkins-Museum of Art, there was the realization that it was finally time to pursue the lifelong dream of "really producing art." Meeting teacher, mentor, Donna Yeager and experiencing the excitement of painting in pastels made art come alive in actual practice. Also, travels to exotic places such as Malaysia, China and Portugal have been an inspiration.   College level drawing and sketching classes were taken during high school in Waterloo, Iowa at the local Fine Arts Center in 1971 and 1972, Kansas City Art Institute Classes in 1998 and 1999, weekly class with pastelist Donna Yeager for 5 years and also class with Robert Vaugn for this last year.

   Her pastel work seems to be about "Location, Location, Location." Scenic and provocative places such as "Ghost Ranch" in Abiquiu, New Mexico; Sausalito, California; Copper Mountain, Colorado and Portugal have provided exciting challenges. She loves the color and texture of pastels, their lights and darks, and the  emotions of the diverse landscapes. She paints whether at home in KC or elswhere.