Sheila Becker’s Bio

Sheila grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her father was a house painter by trade and an artist by talent. Her mother was a singer, but sadly died at the young age of 31. Sheila has four siblings and each one is involved in the artsin one fashion or another: sign painting, interior decorating, singing, and teaching art. Sheila remembers when they were young looking forward to Saturday nights when dad would make homemade French fries and fried chicken. After dinner, they would all sit around the kitchen table and watch dad draw pictures. He could draw anything asked of him to draw. Then he would get out his guitar and they would have a “Schmidt family hootenanny.”  That was started when mom was still alive. She had a beautiful voice.  Whenever she went to her Dr.’s appointment she would stop at the drug store and bring back a new box of color crayons. She sat at that same kitchen table for hours, coloring with the kids. The arts were definitely the highlights of their lives.
 

Sheila completed her bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting at Minnesota State University in 1979. She also received a Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education. She has taken many post graduate classes and workshops from artists: Cheng Khee Chee, Paul Hapke, Carol Gray, Janet Stevens, Debra Frazier, Gin Wiedenfeltzer and Ilsa Plume.  Teaching art to young people for the past 28 years has been a wonderful career for Sheila. She has taught all ages, but prefers to work with elementary kids, as they have not yet learned to be afraid of their personal self-expressions. They have not learned to say, “ I can’t draw a straight line!”  Sheila started her career in art education in the Anoka-Hennepin school district. She moved to Jordan twelve years later and began teaching at Jordan Elementary in 1992. She is very grateful to have made art education her career. This has been so fulfilling for Sheila, having taught thousands of children in her 28 years. Her future goal is to paint full-time when she retires.

Living in Minnesota all of her life, the four seasons have been the biggest inspiration to her work. Much of her work is generated from recollections of physical, emotional and spiritual experiences while in nature.  As she grows in her art career, she’d like to develop paintings by exploring bold and personal memories and images about life intermingled with the beauty of nature. As a part time artist she has had many opportunities to exhibit her work in museums, galleries, banks, art fairs and coffee shops in Minnesota. Sheila describes her painting as a peaceful, relaxing and spiritual experience.