Sheila Westera has lived in London since the Millenium. Only at the end of 2019, she decided that she wanted to live in nature and made a more permanent move into the Swiss Alps. Being located quite central in Europe, she catches up with city life in Zurich, or travels to nearby Milan. London cannever be missed of course and she also makes regular trips to Amsterdam to catch up with family and more. The energy in her work comes from a balance of both these worlds, nature and city life but in fact her real inspiration starts from deep within..
With her wearable sculptures, Sheila express her social criticism, love for nature, and worries about our planet through her self-invented weaving techniques.
She created her first work with waste that washed upon the shore of a lake near her house: textile, cord, and wire helped her tie sharp pieces of glass together into a neckpiece that was a statement against our throw-away society. Adornment was not on her mind at that time at all, as she was merely trying to get her message across to my family, friends, and neighbours.
In the years that followed, she worked on her technique almost therapeutically, dealing with life in general by exploring the use of more materials and sculpting her own jewellery. Driven by a passion for original thinkers and with a background in Art & Architecture History, she developed her own technique to set stones and other materials in wire, loosely inspired by the weaving of textile and structures of all kinds.
After years of struggling with precious metals like gold, due to their shiny and luxurious properties, she realised that humans have a deep natural need for adornment and the indestructible qualities of gold. It took her some time to embrace it, but now she makes most of her work in high quality gold-filled and sterling silver wire, as well as incorporating all sorts of stones and finds that trigger her — from pieces of broken ceramics and fossilised stones, to pearls and semi-precious gemstones — each piece carrying its own message.
In 2018 and 2019, she was invited to exhibit her work in Milan at a Contemporary Jewellery Exhibition. The recognition of her work made her decide to present her work to a wider audience.
Exploring the full range of her possibilities, she also makes cocktail rings driven by her love for stones. Her work is divided in three collections: find part of her Arty Scenes collection on Face Art.
