sheila Provazza

Sheila Provazza studied Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and received her Masters of Fine Arts degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.  Her work has been exhibited in the United States and Canada and has been collected by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Mount St. Vincent University and the Nova Scotia Art Bank.  Sheila has taught Painting and Drawing at NSCAD University since 1994 and has worked as a scenic artist and designer for theater and opera.  

Artist Statement

The techniques and subjects I am involved with draw upon my experiences as a visual and scenic artist, in particular, still life painting and scenic painting for opera.   The work submitted for this exhibition is preparatory work for a panorama that draws upon these two diverse aspects of my painting practice.  

Although "In the Sweet By and By” does not fall in the realm of scenic painting, the techniques and scale of scenic art have driven the form of the project. My aim was to present a work that asks one to view the subject unfolding in a sequential fashion.  The painting cannot be viewed in its entirety, rather the panoramic format asks the viewer to read the painting section by section.

The still life objects (figurines, puppets, and toys) are posed over a continuous background that pulls the 7 panels together. Their postures, expressions, and groupings are partially motivated by current events; yet they evoke a sentiment of nostalgia. Their narrative is open to interpretation.