“Batik is still an endlessly creative challenge for me and I love to push myself, seeing how far I can take it!”
KIRSTEN T.O. SHEFFIELD is a Vancouver-born artist who manipulates wax and dye, merging realism and the fluid nature of water in painted batik. The curious medium intrigues and draws patrons to her varied subject matter which includes Westcoast landscapes, internationally inspired cultural and architectural themes, as well as local botanical images. Her unique, resist-based technique produces organic paintings particularly suited to the interplay of light and shadow, smooth gradations of colour and reflections on water. Her richly-hued paintings are heavily influenced by extensive travel and shaped by her background as an oil painter and photographer.
With a degree in Art History from the University of Victoria and a circuitous commercial art career ranging from technical drawing for scientific and medical journals to illustrating for Harper Collins, the Canadian Military History Journal and Paradigm Motion Pictures, Kirsten left her successful mural company, Walls That Talk murals in 2012 and delved into the world of Batik. Settled into what has become her niche within the art world, as a painted batik artist, she joins other artists, some of whom can be found on the International Batik Guild website, https://www.batikguild.org.uk/, who have embraced this ancient art form, adapting it to uniquely express themselves.
The process where wax is heated and applied as a resist to fabric in stages, intermittent with dyes, is the basis of batik, and remains the same in Kirsten’s batik process; however, instead of dipping the dye, she uses brushes to apply both dye and wax. The truly artistic aspect of her work involves control of the dye when it touches the fabric, spreading in varying degrees dependent on how wet she allows the fabric to become. The wax, as usual, creates a boundary where the dye cannot enter. When a piece is finished, the wax is removed and the colours emerge.
Kirsten has been an Active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, has been represented by galleries and won awards, including her favourite, People’s Choice Awards, several times! Her unique batik paintings have been juried into international exhibitions, as well as local ones, like the highly acclaimed Sidney Fine Arts Shows and Sooke Fine Arts Shows. Her work can be found across Canada, in New Zealand and the United States, but her most enthusiastic patronage stems from locals. Her Westcoast images particularly resonate with islanders, something most evident each time she exhibits in Sidney at the little Tulista Gallery, now known as the ArtSea Gallery, on the waterfront at Tulista Park. For each week-long show, she would have so much interest from passers by, as well as from those who had “saved the date, ” that she couldn’t wait to have a local studio that people could visit! In 2023, this opportunity came to fruition, and now Kirsten has a sublime studio in the heart of Ardmore where interested people can visit by appointment, or during the yearly, fall, Peninsula Studio Tours.
Having grown up in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, Kirsten currently lives in North Saanich, British Columbia. Past and available work can be found at http://www.wallsthattalk.ca where you can also arrange to visit her studio.
