Washington, D.C. – Sheila Isham’s The Victoria Series, featuring five canvases ranging in size from roughly four by seven feet to five by eight feet, will be on view in its entirety at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) from February 25 – April 24, 2005. These powerful paintings reflect the artist’s victory over personal hardships and are a tribute to her daughter Sandra who died of HIV/AIDS in 1996.

Sheila Isham overcame a fire that consumed hundreds of works in her Washington, D.C., studio, a typhoon that shipwrecked her small craft off the coast of Hong Kong, a flood that ruined a substantial body of work in Guatemala, and most devastating of all, the loss of her daughter Sandra in 1996 after contracting HIV/AIDS through a blood transfusion. And yet, despite these upheavals, her work prevails.

The Victoria Series was painted during an intensive three month period in 1988–89, reflecting images apparent in her Cosmic Dance, Cosmic Myth, and Cosmic Earth (1979–88) series. This series also foreshadows the later works of her Oasis series (1994–present), combining mythical and figurative elements. Of The Victoria Series, Isham states “Clearly the series tells the story of an odyssey one hopes never to experience. It spans all human emotions from love to terror to hope and finally triumph and joy. It is an epic poem in paint, expressed in brilliant color and strong forms. From dark to light, cold to warm, violent painterly gestures to softer, undulating forms that express peace, joy, and relief.”

Eminent scholar Robert Ferris Thompson has remarked that Isham’s paintings “provide Zen mist without the mountain armature, modal jazz without the trumpet or orchestra backdrop, just pure release, pure spirit. Her paintings waft into our consciousness . . . making us perceive line, form, and color all anew.”

About the Women’s Museum
The National Museum of Women in the Arts, founded in 1981 and opened in 1987, is the only museum dedicated solely to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Its permanent collection contains works by more than 800 artists. The Museum also conducts multidisciplinary programs for diverse audiences and maintains a Library and Research Center accessible to the public by appointment. The Museum is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, in a landmark building near the White House. It is open Monday – Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm and Sunday, noon - 5 pm. For information, call 202.783.5000 or visit the Museum’s website at www.nmwa.org.

Admission to the Museum during Sheila Isham’s The Victoria Series is $10 for adults, $8 for students with valid ID and visitors 60 and over, and free for youth 18 and under. Members receive free admission. Free Community Days for the exhibition are the first Sunday of every month.