The Charleston Artist Guild Gallery announces Sheila Kern as the Featured Artist for the month of September with her exhibit, Shimmer & Dream on display from September 1- 30, 2016. Sheila Kern is a commission artist who draws upon her world travels to create original fine art that is vibrant in color and rich in symbolism. Working primarily with oil on canvas, she has exhibited in independent and group shows in the US, Ireland and Paris.

Originally from Rhode Island, Sheila received her Bachelor of Fine Arts, cum laude, from Syracuse University. She worked as an illustrator, designer and fine art painter in New York until her career took her from the United States to Ireland where she worked commercially, as well as continuing with portraiture and fine art painting. Most notably, Sheila was commissioned for a series of five portraits by Foras na Gaeilge, a department of the Irish government. This series began with painting T.K. Whitaker, a former Irish economist who won the “Greatest Living Irish Person” award in 2002.

After living and working in Ireland for 13 years, in 2006, Sheila moved to Paris, leaving commercial work behind to focus solely on creating works of fine art, and had the pleasure of living in the “City of Light” for four years. After returning to the States, in 2011, Sheila began The Completement Series, a trilogy of intricately detailed paintings depicting the transformation of man and his transition into the new environment. The Completement Series consists of The Ascension Painting, The Labyrinth Painting and In the Garden.

Sheila moved to Charleston in 2012 and is currently working on a series with sea turtle imagery after time spent swimming with them in the Caribbean as well as their influence of their prominence in the local area.

Please join us for the opening reception of this exhibition, which is free to the public, on Friday, September 2, from 5pm-8pm. Live music with oboist Mark Gainer and flutist David Sarnoff. The Charleston Artist Guild Gallery is located at 160 East Bay Street and is open daily from 11-6pm. Purchases made at the gallery are free from sales tax and support the non profit Guild’s community outreach work. Please contact the gallery at 843.722.242 with any inquiries. For information about Sheila, visit her website at www.sheilakern.com.