Thomas Merton said it best: “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” After several years of exploring her newfound passion for art, Sharon has found her way into a new life as an artist.
It’s been a remarkable journey with several detours along the way. For example, Sharon wasn’t able to pull off another art sale this summer. The last art display/sale she had in 2019 was an outstanding success. Unfortunately, logistics and scheduling conflicts curtailed another one for this summer. Undaunted, Sharon did one better and created a whole new collection of her paintings. She recently had a gallery showing, an artist’s reception, two more galleries asking to display her work and a return to the warmth of fellow artists. Sharon is back up and running full steam with her art and loving every minute of it.
About four years ago, Sharon began her artistic journey by creating metal art through welding various forms and shapes. Gradually those endeavors evolved into alcohol ink and acrylics. Then Sharon’s art became a full blown exploration and examination of various painting mediums, methods and techniques. In that process of experimentation, she began mixing and matching a plethora of textures, patterns and applications. She also learned the disciplines associated with the many different approaches to her art. Then two years ago Sharon felt it was time to display and perhaps sell some of her art.
The idea for an art sale started out simply enough. Sharon’s Apple Valley Rotary group wanted to do their yearly fund-raiser. In other years, the group had sold raffle tickets for a new car or staged other events to raise money. But because of COVID-19, they decided to just ask for money to feed the hungry in town.
Sharon thought she had a better idea. After two years as a practicing artist, she had amassed a sizeable collection of paintings, sketches, cards, etc. Why not sell those at a steep discount and donate all the proceeds toward the Apple Valley Rotary fundraiser. She could stage it in our backyard, have masks for everyone who attended and a no-pressure opportunity to perhaps buy nice art at a deep discount and benefit the local food shelf at the same time.
The show was a tremendous success. Sharon sold over 90 pieces of art out of 100 displayed. Then this summer, with the pandemic behind us, Sharon returned to her old haunts in Northeast Minneapolis for more art classes.
While growing up in Saint Paul, old Norde East could have been on the other side of the planet for all my wanderings around town. Even when I lived in a hovel near Dinky Town, Northeast Minneapolis was one part of town that held absolutely no allure for me. It was on the other side of East Hennepin Avenue and considered no man’s land to most of us seekers.
Fifty years after the West Bank of the University of Minnesota harbored the disenfranchised, the hippies and other malcontents of a similar ilk; their decedents have now migrated to the North-east part of Minneapolis. In an unplanned, almost organic metamorphosis of a cityscape, this unwashed morass of creativity has moved west leaving such hippie watering holes as the Triangle Bar behind.
Back in twenties and thirties, Northrup King was one of the largest seed producers in the world. Time and changing economics changed the equation and the business went bust. Then a new generation of entrepreneurs discovered its solid foundation, huge windows, cheap rent and a blank canvas for change. Now artists like Sharon along with artisans, house flippers, yoga gurus, craft beer specialists, software developers and other creative types are flocking to the area.
The roughhewn, anti-fashion, individualistic, truth-seeking individuals whom I find so fascinating all hang out there. It’s not as compact as Dinky town but the atmosphere is the same. The haunts of past lives have come alive again in that charged arena. It’s almost as if inquiring minds once again scream for an exploration of life’s truths in that modern version of old Bohemia.
All of which takes us to her recent artist’s reception in Rosemount. The Rosemount Area Arts Council (RAAC) hosts artists in their gallery at the Steeple Center. Sharon was invited to display some of her collection and a reception was held in late September.
Well over eighty folks attended the event to view her art, enjoy the company of fellow artists and listen to Sharon’s story that began with a simple: “I could never do that” while admiring another artist’s work. Her artist-friend, Doris Loes, got her started on her first painting and it’s been a rapid uphill climb ever since.
Starting her education in a one-room school house to finally retiring as Vice President at a local college, Sharon’s journey into art has been a circuitous journey at best. But she’s now found her passion, her creative roots in creativity and a journey of discovery.
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