Sima Elizabeth Shefrin

Gabriola Island, British Columbia Canada — nearest ocean:  Northern Pacific
European Heritage, Older Adult (50 and over)

About the art

In August 2020 I started drawing daily comics and sending them out to a list of subscribers to raise money for the local food bank. The comics were about our life on a Gulf Island during the pandemic, our art, our music, our garden, our politics and our dog. My goal was to build community and maintain connections with as many people as I could to counter the enforced isolation of Covid.

One year ago in July 2020 there was a deadly heat dome in western North America including the coastal area where I live. In British Columbia, 619 people died from the heat. This is the comic I sent out at that time.

About the artist

My life as an artist began in 1951 when I played as a toddler in the galleries of Rome. I've been creating images ever since. As well as occasional curating, I have been working as a visual artist for over 50 years, and have exhibited throughout North America, particularly in the area of community art. In the last few years I have taken great pleasure in the Illustration of books and creation of comic strips. For more information and images see: www.stitchingforsocialchange.ca .

I am particularly interested in the ways that artwork brings together people of different cultures. My largest project was the Middle East Peace Quilt www.middleeastpeacequilt.ca , an international community art project made up of contributions of over 300 people of many ages and backgrounds. The quilt showed at over 35 venues in its North American tour, which ran from 1999 to 2008.

My studio is called "Stitching for Social Change" and my work as an artist is dedicated to creating a world that works for all the people who live in it.