Sheila Elias

New York has amazing connections for artists; more so than any other city.”

 

Being an artist, she has been benevolently involved with The Bass, The Frost, The Lowe, PAMM, and The New World Symphony.

Originally as an undergraduate from the Art Institute of Chicago, she moved to LA, where she received her Masters of Fine Art (MFA) as a painter, photographer, and sculptor. Sheila is also known for her installation art, and collages made by combining paint and photographs. Her work has been shown widely in museums and galleries throughout the United States and abroad over the past three decades, including the New York Public Library, Bass Museum in Miami Beach, and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Her work is also in scores of public and private art collections, and has been reviewed in many newspapers and magazines. Some of her work can be found in Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL; Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL; The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL; Kunsan Contemporary Museum, Korea; Nova Scotia Museum, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Private collections include; Mr. Robert Bovet, Switzerland; Ms. Silvana Facchini, Miami, FL; Mr. Phillip and Mrs. Denise Gerson, Coconut Grove, FL; Ms. Barbara Lazaroff and Wolfgang Puck, Los Angeles; Mrs. Lila Menowitz, Bal Harbour, FL; H.H. Princess Thi-Nga, Napa Valley, CA; Sabine Weber Sauser, Switzerland, the Taplin Collection Miami, FL; Carole Langer, Miami, FL; Michelle Rosenfeld, New York, NY…etc.

She has been presented with awards such as: Metro Art International Medal, New York, NY, Jurors: Ivan Karp, Lisa Dennison; Woman of the Year, 1986, presented by Tarzana Chamber of Commerce, Tarzana, CA; Bronze Award, Art of California Magazine Discovery Awards and Women of Vision Award, Weitzman Institute.

“Somewhere-Anywhere,” a book written by a full bright scholar, Robert Morgan, and critic, Peter Frank, was the subject of Sheila’s retrospective exhibition at Nova Southeastern University. The book was published shortly following her traveling show, which originated in Harvard, and culminated at The Coral Springs Museum.

Sheila expresses herself through many mediums from painting, photography, to digital media. This versatile artist has taken on the Apple iPad with her latest series, ‘iPaint on my iPad’. Sheila produces technological visions, pioneering with the iPad and held exhibitions across a myriad amounts of Apple Stores around the World: Santa Monica, California, Lincoln Center, New York, Aventura Mall, Miami, and IFC apple store in Hong Kong . The iPad series has been exhibited at the Art Basel in Hong Kong, the California Heritage Museum, Rosenthal Fine Arts in Chicago, and the Mayson Gallery in New York. According to Visionary Art Trends, Sheila has been compared to David Hockney, one of Britain’s most innovative and famous artists.

Where did the idea come from?

My visit as a child to the Art Institute of Chicago.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I get up around 5:30/6:00 a.m. and I read two newspapers, I go to work out and then I go to the studio and create.

How do you bring ideas to life?

Sometimes travel stimulates me, sometimes a book, a word or a color.

What’s one trend that really excites you?

That there is more art in the communities for the average person to view and learn more about artists.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I am extremely prolific in my art making.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Move to New York straight out of school. New York has amazing connections for artists; More so than any other city.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

I am not sure if people do not agree or I they are surprised when I mention that women still have a very difficult time in the arts. It seems to me that it is like a stacked deck against women artists. Women artists do not to get the financial remuneration in comparison to male artists.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

To me work, work, work…

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Taking risks. Thinking of an idea that is difficult to do and them making sure that I achieve it. Also, I never take “no” for an answer. This helps a lot when trying to make ideas come to life!

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Try to a money making project that is more commercial than your actual business

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I got some artwork framed that I probably did not need to have framed at all.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

Airtable and Waze. Waze gets me every where I need to go, and Airtable is an cloud-based database that works like a spreadsheet. It helps me keep track and organize my artwork and collections.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

“Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson. It is a really well written book and it is about creative thinking.

What is your favorite quote?

“Be yourself- everyone else is taken.”- Oscar Wilde

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