Sheila Ali

I am the curator and director of the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination. This site may have multiple artists. The main bulk of the work is by Irma Freeman. A German born Pittsburgh Artists who left a legacy of over 500 paintings and drawings. She lived 1903 - 1994. The center was established in her name in 2009. We have the exclusive access to her large collection of original works. We provide fine art limited edition prints of her original paintings and sketches.

I have a BA from Brandeis University, an art education certification and an MFA from Vermont College.

Irma took took painting classes at St. Joseph’s Academy and tagged along with her daughter to Carnegie Tech for life drawing in the 1950s. She was also mentored by Samuel Rosenburg who took an interest in her work. Her style of art changed over the decades as she practices. Some call her a self-taught artists, others consider her an Outsider Artist. Irma would probably just call herself an artist. Her paintings filled the little row house where she lived with her husband Lou for almost 60 years. He was a novelty salesman who supported his family, and was inducted into the Checker Hall of Fame posthumously. Irma's name has become a attached to the building that sits in the hub of Pittsburgh's cultural underground and fast growing arts district.

The Irma Freeman Center has had over ten years of exhibitions, featuring Irma Freeman' s work many times. The complete list of her exhibitions can be found on our website