Join us at the Closing Reception for this art exhibit.
Sheila Newquist
Though Sheila was awarded “most artistic” in her high school class, she went on to become a nurse, and continues to maintain a full time career in the healthcare industry. For many years, while also raising her three daughters, she fell away completely from making art.
In 2012 she resumed painting, inspired by the photography of her father, Lane W. Newquist. Since then her focus has been on watercolors. Past interests had also included pastels and charcoal. Her style is representational, reflecting landscapes, seascapes, forests, boats and occasionally animals and still life.
While having no formal art training, Sheila has benefited from her mentor and friend, Susan Shaw. She has also studied with Ralph Acosta, Cindy Baron, Bob Noreika, and Natalie Pfhansteihl.
Sheila is a Juried Artist Member at Wickford Art Association, an Artist Member at South County Art Association, an Artist Member at The Attleboro Art Museum, and an Artist Member at Rhode Island Watercolor Society. She has also exhibited at Spring Bull Gallery, the Courthouse Center for the Arts, The Hive, and the Gilbert Stuart Museum Bell Gallery. She is a member of the plein air painting group, Monday’s Palette.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Sheila has lived in Rhode Island most of her life. She currently resides in North Kingstown, RI.
Artist Statement
My painting process continues to evolve as I explore my artistic passion. I am considering use of color theory, design elements, and artistic license. The challenges, successes, and failures all push me on a path of development I strive for. Most importantly, while time to paint is always a challenge, when I do paint it is my favorite mindful meditation. I am also grateful for all the ways my art has connected me to so many wonderful people.
Earline Rae Ferguson
Earline Rae Ferguson is a watercolor artist, PhD scholar/teacher of history, writer, and a lifetime practitioner of yoga and meditation.
The child of a U.S. Army sergeant-major, Rae first learned to love nature’s varied colors and shapes in Bavaria where she grew up. She especially loved the trees that danced in the dark forests that blanketed the mountains surrounding Giessen. Nature’s allure still called her long after her family’s return to the U.S. where she frequently marveled as a young woman that trees could dance even as they tenaciously rooted their claim to life beneath New York and Baltimore sidewalks. In 2000, an offer to join the history faculty at the University of Rhode Island brought her from Central Illinois to South County where once again she feels an almost primal connection with nature and where every day something she sees in the landscape touches and inspires her heart.
Artist Statement
Each spring as soon as the semester ends, I take off for “parts unknown” to recover from the previous school year at URI. In May 2012, I made my way toward what I hoped would be five days of rejuvenation at a yoga retreat center where I had enrolled in a program simply entitled “Holistic Watercolor with Ann Lindsay.” Meditation and painting, I thought. Once on the road, I knew by the way each tree, bush, and cloud embraced my awareness that I was headed westward toward something seminal in my life’s journey. That workshop is where I fell in deep love with the qualities of color moving through water on off-white paper.
Creative Thinking in Business: Get the Most Out of Every Mind!
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