Artist....in the truest sense of the word, a woman who has devoted a lifetime to a creative calling. I remember my first exposure to Sheila's work very early on, 1969, at a show at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. In Sheila's words, "the viewer feels he's surrounded by swirling and transparent light soaked clouds."

What struck me was the fascination of the spectators. The gallery brochure proclaimed, "her work mesmerizes." An extravagant claim but this is what I was witness to. At least a dozen people smiling to themselves, finding their own meaning, and very simply enjoying the pleasure derived from the canvas creations of Sheila Isham.

No doubt she had begun her journey to speak with colors, shapes, forms, all of which ultimately would arouse spiritual feelings of mysticism. I have always described her work as a beachead bursting from the heavens to calm a world constantly being swept upon the rocks. Working out of various studios as a traveling wife of a State Department career diplomat, from West Berlin to Washington DC, from Bombay, India to Budapest, from Haiti to St. Petersburg, Russia, and now Southampton, New York, Isham's range spans over 40 years

If this quick and personal survey of the work of Sheila Isham reads like an endorsement, it is. Indeed it is a campaign to appeal to a patron and/or institution to sponsor an artist deserving of a major RETROSPECTIVE show.

Here is an artist born, bred, and trained in America, who was the first student from the free world after WWII to have studied at the illustrious Berlin Academy of Fine Arts, studied calligraphy in China for 3 years, lived in the Caribbean for 4 years - immersing herself in Haitian culture, worked in Russia for 2 years directly experiencing the demise of the Soviet Union and the re-emergence of traditional Russian culture, and who found an all embracing anchor constantly returning to India for the unique inspiration she would derive from the study of the ancient spiritual writings of Hinduism.

Art being the sum total of experience, expression, and talent in one form or another, take a moment, glimpse the attached paintings and drawings, fleeting though they may be in a one dimensional format, experience mythical Isham, and imagine the impact in real time of 40 years of a life's work assembled for a retrospective..

Alfred R. Kelman
Inveterate Collector, Film Producer & Director
June 22, 2002