Sharon Church

Professor, Crafts Department, College of Art and Design
The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
BS, Skidmore College
MFA, School for American Craftsmen, Rochester Institute of Technology

 

Shimmer, 2004, Brooch, Carved Boxwood and Lemon Wood, Buttermilk Paint, Oxidized
Sterling Silver, Old European Cut Diamonds, 5 3/4" x 2" x 1 1/2",Collection of the National Gallery
of Australia, Photo: Jack Ramsdale

Forgotten Corsage, 2007, Brooch, Carved Boxwood, Enamel Paints, Oxidized Sterling Silver,
6" x 2 1/4" x 1 1/2", Photo: Ken Yanoviak

Awards:

National Endowment for the Arts Individual Craftsman's Fellowship Grant
Finalist (Discipline Winner) Pew Fellowship in the Arts
Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award
Richard C. von Hess Faculty Award
Venture Fund Award
James Renwick Alliance Distinguished Educator Award

Selected Exhibitions

:

The John Michael Kohler Art Center
The American Craft Museum
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
SOFA NY
Helen Drutt: Philadelphia

Public Collections:

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
The Samuel Dorsky Museum, SUNY New Paltz, NY
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX
The Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI
The Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE

Artist's Statement:

I am a jeweler and metalsmith. I carve forms inspired by nature, pods and flowers that evolve from seed and a division of cells; they burst with life. I use materials that were once alive and now dead: bone, horn and wood - they physically embody the life cycle. Forged metal elements lend a similar life force to the work. When I forge, the rhythmic pounding spreads life like a heartbeat into my work. Metal has its own language of form; it moves in its own sensuous ways, full of life. I seek to develop forms that embody a symbolic language of growth and decay, death and renewal - timeless images that are at once tender and powerful. I am interested in jewelry that embodies shimmering beauty along with its dark, damp and mysterious underpinnings. Ultimately I think these forms are loaded with femininity, power and triumph. 

From left: Rosanne Raab, "Palette Maestro" exhibition curator, jeweler/metalsmith Sharon Church (2008 Visiting Raab Lecturer at Skidmore College), and Tod Pardon, jeweler/metalsmith and son of the late Earl Pardon.