Sheila Catherine Bownas (4 March 1925 – 2007) was a British textile designer and

botanical illustrator Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolor paintings. They must be scientifically accurate but often also have an artistic component and may be printed with a botanical ...

. Born in Linton, West Riding of Yorkshire, Bownas attended

Skipton Girls' High School Skipton Girls' High School, founded in 1886 by the Petyt Trust, is an all-girls selective grammar school situated in Skipton, North Yorkshire, England. The school is a founding member of Northern Star Academies Trust, and leads Northern Lights ...

and Skipton Art School before being awarded a Yorkshire Senior County Art Scholarship to attend the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

. At the Slade Bownas won a first prize in 1948 as well as having three pictures included in the 1948

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, s ...

. The following year she spend in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, Italy studying history of art. After graduating in 1950 Bownas started a career in textile design as a freelance worker. Efforts to secure a permanent post failed probably due to sexism in the design industry; a rejection letter from

Crown Wallpaper Crown Wallpaper, also known as the Crown Wallpaper Company, was an agglomeration of wallpaper manufacturers in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain ...

ended with the statement "With reference to your desire to obtain a position in our studio, the Director feels that should an appointment be made at all, a male designer would be preferable, considering our future policy." Her freelance customers included designs for Liberty's and

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

. In 1962 Bownas was commissioned by the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

to produce a series of botanical studies for an exhibition. From this she accepted an offer from the

Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) is a scientific society for the study of flora, plant distribution and taxonomy relating to Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The society was founded as the Botani ...

to become one of the illustrators of the guidebook ''Sedges of the British Isles'' for which she produced over 1500 illustrations over six years. By the 1960s Bownas had returned to live in Linton where she remained for the rest of her life. She continued to freelance until the mid-1980s and continued to paint and draw until her death in 2007.

References

External links

Sheila Bownas: A Designer’s Life by Leeds Museums & GalleriesSheila Bownas: Pattern Designs by Leeds Museums & Galleries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bownas, Sheila Catherine 1925 births 2007 deaths People from Linton Textile designers Botanical illustrators Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art People educated at Skipton Girls' High School