Elizabeth Reynolds Sheats is a native of Wilmington and a member of the National Society of Colonial Dames. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art with a focus in Painting from UNC-Chapel Hill and went on to receive a Masters of Fine Arts in Interior Design at George Washington University.

She’s also attended classes and workshops in a variety of media at Penland School of Crafts, The John C Campbell Folk School, Glen Echo Park's Red Barn Studio, and the Cameron Art Museum. Her style is strongly influenced by the coastal setting she lives in, which shows up in the colors, textures, and motifs of her art and interiors.  Working in both acrylic and watercolor media, she captures local scenes in a fun and vibrant way.

Due to the recent hurricanes and land development, Elizabeth has experienced an increased awareness and passion for local tree canopy preservation leading her to recently focus on painting canopies both locally and on Bald Head Island.  Her paintings are vibrant ways an artist preserves trees and memories of the enveloping shelter that they provide. Many of her canopies bring attention on the light at the end of the canopy, which is a metaphor for the shadows we endure in life with a radiant hope at the end of the journey.

Ella has previously shown her work at Flytrap Brewing, and you can spot a few of her murals around town. The work being presented for this show is titled “Figures of Nature”, due to its focus on the rawness and beauty of the human form, in an abstract manner. The desire to create this work stems from every woman’s up and down journey of learning to value their ever changing bodies throughout life.

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