Sharon Church (artist)

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

• 2018, Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG)[3]
• 2018, Distinguished Artist, James Renwick Alliance[12]
• 2015, “Master of American Craft”, American Craft Council.[11]
• 2012. Elected Fellow, American Craft Council College of Fellows[14]
• 2010, Medal of Distinction, Philadelphia Art Alliance[1]
• 2008, Distinguished Educator Award, James Renwick Alliance[15][34]
• 2004, Richard C. von Hess Faculty Prize, University of the Arts[35]
• 1999, Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, University of the Arts[36]
• 1977, Craftsmen's Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts[37]

• Oral history interview with Sharon Church McNabb 1990 from Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University