Sheila Millward was born in Hull and lived in Leamington Spa with her husband, Maurice. She had 2 sons, 2 daughters and a plethora of grandchildren.
"I am a mixed media artist who revels in fine art and 'unnoble' materials. Subjects can be the nude, flowers, issue based work and landscape - I love fell walking. I do not stop to draw whilst walking as I believe this would tie me to the memory of the drawing, not the memory of feeling. 'Before anything else, a painting is a place, a site for imaginative possibilities' - Malcolm Whittaker."
Sheila gained a Master of Arts with Merit in Fine Art and Theory at the Coventry School of Art & Design, Coventry University in 1996. Her main body of work focused on 'an emotional response to Terezin (Teresenstadt)' (see 'Holocaust' work on this site). The thesis highlighted art as a tool for mental resistance and spiritual regeneration in the face of human suffering and tragedy. This body of work has toured Worcester and Coventry Cathedrals and Saint Mary's Shrewsbury, Holy Trinity Church in Leamington Spa and the Aerospace Museum in Cosford.
"Sheila's work could be constructed from anything - the medium she uses is dependent on the message she wishes to communicate. She uses a variety of found objects, paint, bitumen, paper and fabrics, transforming them into sculptures or 'assemblages'. The rawness of the materials communicate with us, in the fragility of the tissue paper, the sinister nature of ash and the preciousness of oil paint. Sheila's intense personal response prompts us to examine the dichotomy of mankind demonstrated in the depths of man's inhumanity and through the courageous lives of those she celebrates." - Kate Brindley, Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
Solo exhibitions include Helios Gallery, Midlands Arts Centre, Park View Gallery and Birmingham University in Birmingham; Hereford City Art Gallery; Arts Centre Group and Albany Theatre, London; Crucible Theatre, Sheffield; Leamington Spa Art Gallery; The Edinburgh Fringe Festival; University of Warwick Library Gallery and Bleddfa Centre, Wales.
Other exhibitions include Royal Academy, London; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield; Harewood House, Leeds; Royal Academy, Bristol; Candid Arts, Mall Galleries, Llewellyn Alexander, Fresh Art Fair and St James Piccadilly, London; Herbert Art Gallery and Belgrade Theatre, Coventry; Royal Academy and Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; RBSA and Bond Gallery, Birmingham; Castlegate Gallery, Cockermouth and Tullie House Gallery, Carlisle; Cuppola Gallery, Sheffield.
Sheila won awards at Helios Open in 1990, Birmingham Institute in 1992, Eleanor Print Leamington Spa in 1995, Laing Landscape 1994 and 1995, and Leamington Spa Open in 2000, and has work in various collections including British Rail NW Division, Lord Parkinson.
Sheila died in Leamington in 2019.