SHEILA VAN BERKEL

Sheila Van Berkel

Sheila gets a little creative guidance from her Father (Peter van Berkel) as they share time together in the studio.

Sheila van Berkel was born in 1983 in the town of Zeeland Goes. She is the daughter of Elly van Berkel and impressionist painter Peter van Berkel. As a little girl she was fascinated by both the art of dance and the art of painting and since then she is inseparable in both disciplines. At the age of 4 she took her first ballet lessons. She began watching her father paint on his shoulders as a child and has continued her interest with his painting to this day. Inquisitive as she is, she is determined to learn about her father’s technique. With no more than a palette knife, she creates thick layers of paint on canvas rich in texture and vivid color.

Sheila graduated from the Rotterdam Dance Academy in 2005. During her rigid dance studies she would continue to paint and now has learned to combine her life as a professional dancer with her natural abilities as a painter. At first, she was concerned that she must pick one over the other but eventually she learned an equal amount of energy and creativity could be given to both passions. Influences of her dance experiences are reflected in her paintings with thick amount s of paint that come to life with color and movement. She is always looking for similarities in rhythm, dynamics and expression in both disciplines.