Schira Withers
Abstract artist Schira Withers hails from Ireland and now resides in New Zealand. She has been passionate about design all of her adult life, whilst being a primary school teacher. In 2019 she chose to journey a creative pathway.
Schira creates sculptural works that are thought provoking and expressive. Each piece is meticulously sculpted on canvas, using a range of textural mixed media pastes, gels, resin sands and acrylic paint. Then delicately encased in a protective coating. Finally, they are professionally framed in a shadow boxed construction.
Schira’s art is an energetic expression of her passion for nature and the human response to its environment. One is often tempted to search for a familiar element in an abstract painting and question what it resembles. Schira, however, builds a story on canvas, using shape and texture. Her colours flow, move and intertwine within the contours on the surface of the canvas and speak of our daily sights and sounds. She asks the viewer to engage with the depth of the textural form, to relax into the colour in all its hues and thus delve into a meditative moment.
The intricate and varied process of creating an image for Schira is as necessary as the result itself. She becomes completely engaged when moulding the folds and contours of the surface plane and uses them to tell a story. She gives of herself fully to each and every artwork. Ultimately she tranfuses her visions to the canvas for the viewer to identify and decipher their own narrative.
She has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand, with great success not only in sales, but also on-going commissions. In 2021 she was a part of the following events: The Christchurch Art Show, Darfield Art Gallery ‘The Journey’, Mount Pleasant School Art Show, Dunedin Art Show, Akaroa Community Art Show ‘Unlimited’ and The Arts Canterbury Juried Exhibition at The Mill Gallery in Waikuku.
Throughout the summer and autumn of 2022 she has exhibited in
Linwood, Eastside Gallery ‘Good Trouble’ and Akaroa Community
Council ‘WET’ Exhibition. She also took part in The Christchurch Art
Show 2022, Linwood Eastside Gallery - ‘Stride By Stride’ Exhibition and Canterbury Arts - ‘Inside Out’ Exhibition in Lincoln’s Down By The Liey Gallery.
In the later half of this year she participated in The Annual Arts
Canterbury Exhibition, The St Margaret’s College Sculpture and Art
Show and The Distinctly Peninsula Art Exhibition.
Schira’s works are available to view at the Art Box Gallery, in
Christchurch. She has also displayed her work in: The Abditory Gallery and Studio, Akaroa, Banks Peninsula, Sollos Design Store in The Colombo, Christchurch, a commercial office space in the Christchurch CBD, Niche Eatery & Cafe in the seaside suburb of Sumner, as well as Treasures Sumner Nail Spa, Christchurch and in The Brooklyn Barber, Akaroa.
If you would like to commission a piece that would suit precisely your home or commercial space, Schira would be delighted to discuss your requirements.
To see Schira's work, see https://www.artscanterbury.org.nz/portfolios/schira-withers/