Sheena Wilkie – Artist
The greatest storyteller I ever knew was my father. He grew up during the Second World War in a village by the sea in the Highlands of Scotland. His childhood was anything but ordinary. His days were filled with adventures in places like the Fairy Glen and the mystical Clootie Well, with a pet monkey named Jinny and his loyal dog, Beauty. My father’s tales paved the way for my own storytelling. With every story I tell, I honour him and the magical Highland adventures that shaped both his childhood and my own.
Stories continue to be an important part of how I see and make sense of the world. I use words, photographs, drawing, painting and other forms of making to explore the things that I see.
For more than 35 years, my professional path in Communications across both traditional and new media has been devoted to helping organizations communicate their ideas through words and images. Along the way, I have had the opportunity to tell stories for organizations such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Air Canada, Canadian Blood Services, the Canadian Football League, the Olympic Integrated Security Unit, the Canadian Association for Photographic Art, and the Canadian Red Cross.
Midway through this work, I returned to BCIT to complete an Honours Diploma in New Media Design, with majors in Graphic Art and Photography, where I studied colour theory, composition, typography, and visual design. That training deepened my understanding of how we observe, organize, interpret and communicate what we see principles that continue to shape my creative practice.
Photography has been one of my most enduring artistic companions. It taught me to look closely, to pay attention to light and detail, to find stories in ordinary places, and to see possibilities in the everyday.
Over the years, I have been fortunate to receive recognition for my work: being named a Fellow and Honorary Member of the Canadian Association for Photographic Art, serving as a CAPA Certified Judge, and working as longtime Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Photography magazine. Yet beyond the honours, it is the act of seeing, exploring possibilities and encouraging others that continues to matter most to me.
Today, my creative practice is evolving through photography, sketchbooks, drawing, writing, painting, ceramics, fibre arts and other forms of making. I am interested in what happens when we slow down, look closely, follow curiosity and give ourselves permission to experiment.
That exploration has also led me back to something more personal: reclaiming and deepening my own creative life. I’m learning to make room for curiosity, experimentation and making, and to share what I discover along the way.
Through my practice, I continue to explore the beauty of the ordinary with the same sense of wonder and possibility that my father’s stories first sparked in me.
Sheena Wilkie – Sheena Wilkie Art Studio