Shirley Wheeler born in Paddington, London in 1954 graduated from Hornsey College of Art in 1978 with a degree in Graphic Design and Scientific Illustration and later from the Royal College of Art in 1985 with an MA in Illustration. Her first job was in the art department of the Economist Newspaper, working on photoshoots for Fluck and Law of Spitting Image fame. She then moved onto medical magazine publishers. Later, whilst working for Oxford Illustrators, she illustrated for most leading UK publishing houses. As well as her work in publishing she exhibited at the V&A's Bethnal Green Museum, enjoyed a Whitechapel Gallery residency in East London and was involved with many exhibitions organised by artists and designers living and working in Wapping, East London. She then started her own de
more...Shirley Wheeler born in Paddington, London in 1954 graduated from Hornsey College of Art in 1978 with a degree in Graphic Design and Scientific Illustration and later from the Royal College of Art in 1985 with an MA in Illustration. Her first job was in the art department of the Economist Newspaper, working on photoshoots for Fluck and Law of Spitting Image fame. She then moved onto medical magazine publishers. Later, whilst working for Oxford Illustrators, she illustrated for most leading UK publishing houses. As well as her work in publishing she exhibited at the V&A's Bethnal Green Museum, enjoyed a Whitechapel Gallery residency in East London and was involved with many exhibitions organised by artists and designers living and working in Wapping, East London. She then started her own design and illustration business and employed 11 illustrators and designers working largely for science publishing. Before entering teaching in 1997, she worked at the Medical Research Council's, Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. In her professional life she has always worked alongside scientific specialists; oceanographers, entomologists, molecular biologists and this has influenced her research interest into the role of art and design in science communication. Wheeler is based in Durham and is Head of the Design Department and Reader of Design.
Wheelers research is largely through practice with outcomes of exhibitions, commissions, publications and curating. In 2005 a public engagement Society Award of £223,000 from the Wellcome Trust enabled the establishment of Design for Science, a project which looked at Visual Communication in relation to Molecular Biology. Wheeler curated a large travelling exhibition, which was seen in Cambridge, Manchester, Sunderland, the Nobel Museum Stockholm, the Medical Museion Copenhagen and the University of Porto, Portugal. This was reviewed favourably by the journal Nature and featured on the Swedish television equivalent of BBC2.
Her current research project explores the publics perception and understanding of viruses and their representation. She is seeking through her own and others contemporary art and design practice to present new perspectives on this insidious subject area. "Bad News Wrapped in Protein", curated by Wheeler will open at St. Johns College, Oxford in September 2011 and will travel in the UK and Europe.
