Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1961 Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Year of Migration to the UK: 1986

Other name/s: Sheila Vollmer MRSS

Biography

Sculptor Sheila Vollmer was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada in 1961. She completed her BA Honours in Fine Art at the University of Guelph from 1980-85. In 1986, she immigrated to London to further her artistic education, enrolling at St. Martin's School of Art (now part of UAL) and studying sculpture as a postgraduate from 1987-88.

Vollmer’s oeuvre is primarily focused on geometric and organic abstract sculpture and installations. She uses materials such as wood, steel, Perspex, and rope, along with techniques, such as casting, to investigate formal concepts of line, form, space, and rhythm, as well as mood. Her sculptures explore architectural structures and natural ecology, reflecting on the physical and emotional interactions humans have with these environments. Vollmer’s technique involves a responsive approach to the characteristics of her chosen materials and the spaces they will inhabit. Her sculptures exhibit a geometric intricacy that eschews traditional Euclidean geometry, instead creating a seamless totality that draws viewers into the central hollow of each piece. She constructs her pieces using a modular rhythmical approach that engages with space, aiming to convey the dynamic interplay of internal and external energies and emotions. Additionally, she integrates colour to enhance the visual rhythm and vibrancy of the work. Her sculptures vary widely in size, encompassing hand-sized items to room-filling installations, with some outdoor works reaching three metres in height.

Vollmer has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, with solo exhibitions in London and Canada. In 2002-3, she participated in Thinking Big: Concepts for Twenty-First Century British Sculpture at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy, organised by the Cass Sculpture Foundation. This landmark exhibition featured small-scale sculptures by intergenerational artists, celebrating the innovation and diversity of contemporary British sculpture. In 2015, Jane Joseph (whose works are in the Ben Uri collection) chose Sheila Vollmer as her Artist of the Day for a one day solo show at Flowers Gallery, London, which featured the work of five artists selected by well-known practitioners/personalities with the contemporary art scene. Grayson Parry selected Vollmer’s work for the Royal Academy Summer exhibition in 2018. Also in 2018, Vollmer was commissioned to make two sculptures for a Chelsea Flower Show garden that won silver gilt prize. In 2021, she was part of Gonna get Cray Cray, a Royal Society of Sculptors (RSS) summer exhibition.

Since 2019 Vollmer has been part of Talking Sculpture Making (TSM), an exhibiting and discussion forum organised with two other women sculptors, Gillian Brent and Alexandra Harley, showcasing abstract sculpture and inviting intergenerational women and non-binary contemporary artists to show with them, opening up dialogues about women’s practices. Their fifth curated exhibition and discussion event Abstract Vernacular – Continuing Conversations was held in 2024-25, at Sugar House Island Stratford, invited by Hypha Studios, with six invited women artists in sculpture and painting. Curator and writer, Natalie Rudd, chaired the discussion event and wrote the catalogue essay. Other exhibitions have included APT Studios Deptford (2022), Yorkshire Arts Space (2022), Sheffield and Vessel Gallery York St John's University (2023-24). Vollmer has also exhibited with the London Group, including in Catch your Breath Sculpture Exhibition, held at Waterloo St John’s Churchyard, London (2022). In 2024, she was part of a group exhibition A Pull or A Push, curated by Alex Baraitser, with artists who explored the laws of nature, weaving chaos together with structure, in their quest to both defy, balance and harmonise. Vollmer has regularly shown across the UK's outdoor sculpture venues, including the New Art Centre, Sculpture Park & Gallery at Roche Court near Salisbury; Cass Sculpture Foundation (Sculpture at Goodwood), and at Burghley House.

In addition to her sculptural career, Vollmer has also been involved in arts education and administration. From 1996-2000, she served as the Artist Director of the artist-led charity Art in Perpetuity Trust (APT) in Deptford, London, where she has her own studio. Since 1991, she has been a Sculpture Tutor and, from 2003, the Programme Manager for Sculpture at Morley College, London. She was also a visiting tutor at the University of Guelph BA Sculpture in 1994 and from 1993-96 at Winchester and Wimbledon Schools of Art. Earlier in her career, she worked as a Sculpture Technician for the sculptor Anthony Caro from 1990-91 and served as an Artists' Model for painter Euan Uglow from 1987-89. Throughout her career, Vollmer has received several awards, including a 1997 A4E Express Lottery Grant for the Forms in Flux artists’ group exhibition INFLUX; a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (1991-92) and a British Council Travel Grant (1991). Sheila Vollmer currently lives and works in London, England and holds British citizenship. She is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors (MRSS). In the UK public domain, her sculpture, Sine Line was commissioned in Milton Keynes and Cloud Line is part of the Dillington House collection.

Related books

Jillian Knipe, Feeling for Murmuration, exh. cat., (London: Art House Gallery, 2020)
Sheila Vollmer, APT shots 2017 – Passionate Process, exh. cat. (London: APT Gallery, 2017)
Polly Bieleckam, London Bridge City Sculpture (London: Pangolin London Sculpture Gallery, 2011)
Tim Marlow and Rod Mengham, Thinking Big: Concepts for Twenty-First Century British Sculpture (London: Sculpture at Goodwood, 2002)

Related organisations

Art in Perpetuity Trust (Artist Director and founding member)
Morley College (Sculpture Tutor & Programme Manager Sculpture )
Royal Society of Sculptors (member)
St. Martin’s School of Art (student )
The London Group (exhibitor)
Wimbledon School of Art (visiting artist/lecturer )

Selected exhibitions

A Push or a Pull (group show), Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London (2024)
'Colour 2023', Burghley Sculpture Garden, Burghley House, Stamford, Lincolnshire (2023)
Catch your Breath (London Group and Friends Sculpture Exhibition), St John’s Churchyard, London (2022)
Gonna Get Cray Cray (Royal Society of Sculptors Summer Exhibition), Dora House, London (2021)
This Stuff Matters (group show), Yorkshire Arts Space, Sheffield (2021)
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (group show), Royal Academy, London (2018)
APT shots 2017 – Passionate Process (curated exhibition), APT Gallery, London (2017)
Maquette Exhibition (group show), Cass Sculpture Foundation/Goodwood, West Sussex (2016-17)
Artist of the Day (solo exhibition), Flowers Gallery Central, London (2016)
International Exhibition of Wood Sculpture (group show), Wood Sculpture Museum, Sanyi (2012)
Thinking Big: Concepts for Twenty-First Century British Sculpture, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (2002–3)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Sheila Vollmer]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Sheila Vollmer artist