Sharon Church (artist)

Last updated
Sharon Church
Photo of Sharon Church (artist).jpg
Born1948
Richland, Washington
Died2022
Alma mater Skidmore College,
Rochester Institute of Technology
Employer University of the Arts
Website www.sharonchurchjewelry.net
External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg “2012 American Craft Council Fellow: Sharon Church”

Sharon Church (born 1948; died 2022) was an American studio jeweler, metalsmith, and educator. She is a professor emerita of the University of the Arts (Philadelphia) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2012, Church was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council (ACC). [1] [2] In 2018, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of North American Goldsmiths. [3]

Contents

Early years

Sharon Church was born in 1948 in Richland, Washington [1] to Gilbert Patterson Church [4] and Winona Skinner. [5] Church grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, graduating from the Tower Hill School, Class of 1966. [6] Her father was a construction engineer for DuPont Co, [7] and she recalls growing up watching her mother doing craft work and wearing jewelry. [8]

Education

In 1970, Church earned a B.S. from Skidmore College, where she was a student of Earl Pardon. [9] [10] She began working with wood while at Skidmore College. [11] She was encouraged to be a carver and work substractively as a student of Albert Paley during her first year at graduate school. [11] [12] Church earned an M.F.A. from The School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1973. [13]

Teaching

In 1979 Church moved from Wilmington, Delaware, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to begin teaching at the Philadelphia College of Art (later Craft + Material Studies program at University of the Arts (Philadelphia)). [14] [15] After 35 years, she retired in 2014, becoming professor emerita. [14] [3]

“I really believe craft has within it the key to valuing a human life,” she says. “To make something with your hands, to know that you exist, to see that that existence has value – even for someone who just likes doing it, it has enormous value.” Sharon Church [15]

Making

Sharon Church is known for carving materials like wood, horn, and bone and sometimes incorporating them into works with precious metals and stones. [1] [16] She often uses Castello boxwood or ebony. [11] Church often begins with a drawing, but does not plan out the entire piece. She slowly develops her pieces through trial and error, experimenting with processes, techniques and materials until she feels a piece is complete. If she cannot resolve a piece, she may put it away, discard it or reclaim the materials. [11] [12]

She draws heavily on nature both as a model and for materials. [11] Following the death of her first husband in 1993, Church began to make carved wood a key element of her jewelry and sculptures. Her first piece in this style, It was the Most Beautiful Day of the Summer (1995), resembles both a fox's head and a cloven heart, in gold and ebony. [14] [17] [18] [19]

Professional Activities

Church has served on the board of directors of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (1983-1987). She has been the production coordinator for Metalsmith magazine (1986-1987) and served on its editorial advisory committee. She has written for Metalsmith and other magazines. She is a member of the American Craft Council and of Art Jewelry Forum. [3]

Public Collections

Church's work is included in the permanent collections of the Yale University Art Gallery; [20] [21] Metropolitan Museum of Art; [22] Museum of Arts and Design, New York City; [23] Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; [24] [25] Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany; [26] National Gallery of Australia; [27] Museum of Fine Arts Houston; [28] State Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg, Russia; [29] Los Angeles County Museum of Art; [30] Philadelphia Museum of Art; [31] and the Delaware Art Museum. [32] Her work, Oh No!, was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Campaign. [33]

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Paley</span> American modernist metal sculptor

Albert Paley is an American modernist metal sculptor. Initially starting out as a jeweler, Paley has become one of the most distinguished and influential metalsmiths in the world. Within each of his works, three foundational elements stay true: the natural environment, the built environment, and the human presence. Paley is the first metal sculptor to have received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Architects. He lives and works in Rochester, New York with his wife, Frances.

Chunghi Choo is a jewelry designer and metalsmith who was born in Incheon, Korea in 1938. She received a BFA degree from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea, where she majored in Oriental painting and studied philosophy of Oriental art and Chinese brush calligraphy. She moved to the United States in 1961 to study metalsmithing, weaving, and ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she received an MFA in 1965.

Arline Fisch is an American artist and educator. She is known for her work as a metalsmith and jeweler, pioneering the use of textile processes from crochet, knitting, plaiting, and weaving in her work in metal. She developed groundbreaking techniques for incorporating metal wire and other materials into her jewelry.

Robert William Ebendorf is an American metalsmith and jeweler, known for craft, art and studio jewelry, often using found objects. In 2003–2004, the Smithsonian American Art Museum organized an exhibition of 95 pieces, titled The Jewelry of Robert Ebendorf: A Retrospective of Forty Years.

Stanley Lechtzin is an American artist, jeweler, metalsmith and educator. He is noted for his work in electroforming and computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacture (CAM). He has taught at Temple University in the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, from 1962.

Rachelle Thiewes is an American jeweler and metal artist based in El Paso, Texas. She was professor of metal arts at the University of Texas at El Paso from 1976 to 2014 and is currently professor emerita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Lee Hu</span> American artist, goldsmith and educator

Mary Lee Hu is an American artist, goldsmith, and college educator, known for using textile techniques to create intricate woven wire jewelry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Fenster</span> American metalsmith

Fred Fenster is a metalsmith and professor emeritus of the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he taught art and education. He is particularly known for his work in pewter, influencing generations of metalsmiths. Fenster was named a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heikki Seppä</span>

Heikki Markus Seppä, also known as Heiki Seppa was a Finnish-born American master metalsmith, educator, and author. He taught at Washington University in St. Louis, from 1965 to 1992.

Gary Lee Noffke is an American artist and metalsmith. Known for versatility and originality, he is a blacksmith, coppersmith, silversmith, goldsmith, and toolmaker. He has produced gold and silver hollowware, cutlery, jewelry, and forged steelware. Noffke is noted for his technical versatility, his pioneering research into hot forging, the introduction of new alloys, and his ability to both build on and challenge traditional techniques. He has been called the metalsmith's metalsmith, a pacesetter, and a maverick. He is also an educator who has mentored an entire generation of metalsmiths. He has received numerous awards and honors. He has exhibited internationally, and his work is represented in collections around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Worden</span> American artist and metalsmith (1954–2021)

Nancy Lee Worden was an American artist and metalsmith. Her jewelry art is known for weaving together personal narratives with current politics. She received many awards and honors. Worden exhibited internationally, and her work is represented in collections around the world, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Moty</span> American metalsmith and jewelry artist (born 1945)

Eleanor Moty, is an American metalsmith and jewelry artist. Her experimentation with industrial processes, such as photoetching and electroforming, was revolutionary in the field of American art jewelry in the 1960s and 1970s.

Art Jewelry Forum (AJF) is a nonprofit international organization founded in 1997 that advocates for the field of contemporary art jewelry through education, discourse, publications, grants, and awards.

Myra Mimlitsch-Gray is an American metalsmith, artist, critic, and educator living and working in Stone Ridge, New York. Mimlitsch-Gray's work has been shown nationally at such venues as the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Museum of the City of New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, and Museum of Arts and Design. Her work has shown internationally at such venues as the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Stadtisches Museum Gottingen, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, and is held in public and private collections in the U.S, Europe, and Asia.

Linda Threadgill is an American artist whose primary emphasis is metalsmithing. Her metal work is inspired by forms of nature and the interpretations she gleans from the intricate patterns it presents. She explores the foundation of nature to allude to nature and transform it into re-imagined, stylized plants forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjorie Schick</span> American jewelry

Marjorie Schick was an innovative American jewelry artist and academic who taught art for 50 years. Approaching sculptural creations, her avant-garde pieces have been widely collected. Her works form part of the permanent collections of many of the world's leading art museums, including the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia; the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City; the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Japan; the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania; and the Victoria and Albert Museum of London.

Stacey Lee Webber is an American metalsmith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Yager</span> American artist (1951–2024)

Jan Yager was an American artist who made mixed media jewelry. She drew inspiration from both the natural world and the lived-in human environment of her neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, emphasizing that art is a reflection of both time and place. She incorporated rocks, bullet casings, and crack cocaine vials into her works, and found beauty in the resilience of urban plants that some would consider weeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merry Renk</span> American jewelry designer (1921-2012)

Merry Renk, also known as Merry Renk-Curtis, was an American jewelry designer, metalsmith, sculptor and painter. In 1951, she helped to found the Metal Arts Guild (MAG), and served as its president in 1954.

Marilyn da Silva is an American sculptor, metalsmith, jeweler, and educator. She teaches and serves as a department head at the California College of the Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. Da Silva has won numerous awards including honorary fellow by the American Craft Council (2007).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Sharon Church". American Craft Council. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  2. ↑ "Sharon Church". University of the Arts. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Mimlitsch-Gray, Myra (19 February 2018). "2018 SNAG Lifetime Achievement Award, Sharon Church". Society of North American Goldsmiths. Myra Mimlitsch-Gray. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  4. ↑ "Find a Grave Index, 1600s - Current". Ancestry.com . Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  5. ↑ "Skinner-Church Wedding Announced". Newspapers.com. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  6. ↑ "Tower Hill High School Yearbook". U.S. School Yearbooks, 1900-1999. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "Skinner-Church Wedding Announced". newspapers.com. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  8. ↑ Mimlitsch-Gray, Myra. "2018 SNAG Lifetime Achievement Award". Society of North American Goldsmiths. Metalsmith. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  9. ↑ Blauer, Ettagale (29 June 2013). Contemporary American Jewelry Design. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 48–49. ISBN   978-1-4757-4854-3 . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  10. ↑ "Earl Pardon". The Enamel Arts Foundation. 13 April 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dalton, Adriane (8 September 2016). "Sharon Church: Queen Bee". Art Jewelry Forum. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 Radulescu, Adriana G (2018). "Sharon Church: Maker's Stories" (PDF). JRA Quarterly. No. Summer. James Renwick Alliance. pp. 17–18. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "Sharon Church". Senior Artists Initiative. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Kern, Josh (Nov 10, 2015). "Sharon Church". CraftNOW Philadelphia. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  15. 1 2 3 "Masters: Sharon Church". American Craft Magazine. American Craft Council. September 17, 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  16. ↑ Koplos, Janet; Metcalf, Bruce (31 July 2010). Makers: A History of American Studio Craft. Univ of North Carolina Press. pp. 458–459. ISBN   978-0-8078-9583-2 . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  17. ↑ "It Was the Most Beautiful Day of the Summer". The Center for Art in Wood. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  18. ↑ Shaykett, Jessica (July 31, 2014). "Sharon Church's Summer Soliloquy". American Craft Council. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  19. ↑ "It Was the Most Beautiful Day of the Summer". American Craft Council Digital Archive.
  20. ↑ "Empress". Yale University Art Gallery. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  21. ↑ Storb, Christopher (30 September 2016). "Yale University Art Gallery". In Proportion to the Trouble. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  22. ↑ "Brooch: Persephone's Bouquet". The Met. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  23. ↑ "Beaded Collar". Museum of Arts and Design. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  24. ↑ "Beaded Collar". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  25. ↑ "Hearts and Flowers". Art Jewelry Forum. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  26. ↑ "Sharon Church work acquired by Pinakothek der Moderne's Danner Foundation". Sienna Patti - Contemporary Studio Artists. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  27. ↑ Bell, Robert (2005). Transformations : the language of craft. Canberra, A.C.T.: National Gallery of Australia. ISBN   0642541388 . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  28. ↑ "Sharon Church "Envy" Neckpiece". The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  29. ↑ Fulk, Marion (9 February 2015). "Helen Drutt: The State Hermitage Museum Exhibition". Art Jewelry Forum. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  30. ↑ "'Scatter Pins'". LACMA Collections. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  31. ↑ Church, Sharon. "Collections". Philamuseum.org. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  32. ↑ Church, Sharon. "Hand Whip, 1976". emuseum.delart.org. Delaware Art Museum. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  33. ↑ Savig, Mary; Atkinson, Nora; Montiel, Anya (2022). This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World. Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. pp. 228–238. ISBN   9781913875268.
  34. ↑ "Kestenbaum, Church, and Rice Honored as Distinguished Educators". James Renwick Alliance Quarterly. No. WINTER. 2008. p. 9. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  35. ↑ 126th Commencement. Philadelphia, PA: The University of the Arts. May 20, 2004.
  36. ↑ The University of the Arts Commencement May 20, 1999. Philadelphia, PA: The University of the Arts. May 20, 1999.
  37. ↑ Biddle, Livingston L. Jr., ed. (1978). Annual Report 1977 (PDF). Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for the Arts. p. 129. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.