SHEILA KRIEMELMAN
STATEMENT
My work has always been an expression of my core self. Whatever is happening in my life and in the world is expressed in my paintings. My practice has always involved painting for months and years in individual series. They can be expressions of rapture, joy, sadness, or rage. If I am enraged at a group or system that is harmful to other human beings, the need to pour it out on paper or canvas eventually moves me from a personal psychic space of rage to acceptance. If I am dealing with a personal or family trauma – as I move from painting to painting to painting - I can feel myself moving from feelings of powerlessness and sadness to acceptance, serenity and sometimes joy. It’s always about the feelings. The process is simply for myself. If the viewer “gets it”, or I sell the painting, those are fringe benefits.
Works Posted:
Prisoner at Dachau, Acrylic Wash and Charcoal on Paper, 30” x 22”.
The Final Solution, Acrylic on Canvas, 60” x 48”.
Both paintings are from one of my most important bodies of work, a series titled Dachau, 1933-1945. These powerful images are reactions to a visit to the Nazi death camp at Dachau, Germany. A series of hauntingly expressive drawings, etchings, paintings and installations address the horrors of prejudice, hate, and systematic annihilation as directed against Jews, Gypsies, anti-Nazi clergymen, homosexuals, women, children, political dissidents and anyone who spoke against the Nazi regime. The works in this series give witness to arbitrary killings and mass executions, along with the SS doctor’s pseudo-scientific experiments, but also pay tribute to the rescuers and the liberators of Dachau.
Five million non-Jews, including two million Germans, also died at the hands of the Nazis. However, the reality of the systematic torture and organized mass murder of the Jews is the centrally defining issue of the series.
Untitled, Acrylic on Paper, 30” x 22”.
The painting is an abstract “SoHo-scape” from a series I titled Where Have All The Flowers Gone? The abstract cityscapes are as much about my family’s personal and collective loss, reconciliation and redemption as they are about the devastation in my neighborhood as a result of the WTC terrorist attack September 11, 2001. I chose the title of the series in an effort to give witness to, and gratitude for, the first responders who gave and risked their lives to rescue victims of the horrific attack against our nation.
I Can Fly, Watercolor Pencil on Paper, 30” x 22”.
The drawing is from a series I call Beauty In A Broken World. Drawings and paintings from this series, are inspired by the life lived by my granddaughter Oriana, my model, my muse and my collaborator, who continues to teach me to live life on life’s terms and to be happy, joyous and free despite enormous life challenges.
White Hibiscus", Watercolor on 140 lb Arches Paper, 22" x 15".
Pink Plumerias, Watercolor on 140 lb Arches Paper, 30" x 22".
The tropical florals are from a continuing series that were originally part of an exhibition in Honolulu, where I was born and raised, that ran concurrent to a Punahou Academy high school reunion. The work explores my passion for watercolor, serial imagery and evocative color, in subject matter that takes me back to my roots in Hawaii. Feelings of desire, longing and a painful nostalgia come to me as I relive a childhood rich with exotic scents, colors and textures, and adventures with childhood pals who loved and took care of me, made me feel safe – most of whom are still living in the Hawaiian Islands and remain my closest friends today.
BIOGRAPHY
Honolulu born, Sheila Kriemelman is a noted New York artist, lecturer, and professor of art and art history. She has a studio in SoHo, NYC, where she lives with her husband.
Kriemelman has a Bachelor’s in Art Education from the University of Missouri and a Master’s in Studio Art from the College of New Rochelle. She studied at the Glassel School of Fine Art and the University of Texas in Houston, TX, Long Island University/South Hampton, NY and with internationally acclaimed artists including Eric Fischl, April Gornik, Roy Lichtenstein and Larry Rivers.
Kriemelman is a former professor of art and art history at Iona College, Mercy College, The Graduate Programs/College of New Rochelle and St. Thomas Acquinas in New York. She is a pioneer in the use of art to address societal needs and has traveled nation-wide to conduct workshops on The Healing Power of Art. Kriemelman co-created the Summer Institute for Teachers Grades K-6 for the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Kahalui, Maui, HI. The Summer Institute has been offered annually since its inception in 1999.
Her paintings and prints are in luxury resorts, and private, public, corporate and museum collections in the US, London and Australia, including the Klutznik National Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, and the Honolulu Museum of Art. She is listed in Who’s Who In American Art and Outstanding Persons of the 20th Century: “In Honour of Outstanding Contributions to Human Rights Through Art and Education”.
Her professional memberships include The National Association of Women Artists and the New York Society of Women Artists.
Kriemelman is presently represented by Fine Arts Associates, Honolulu, HI and formerly by Mussavi Gallery in SoHo, NYC, Galleria Ambit, Barcelona, Spain, Gallery Maui, Maui, HI, Campbell and Campbell, Carmel, CA and Connecticut Yankee, Westport, CT.