Featured Teaching Artist: Sharon Bartmann

September 11–28, 2023

This year was a year of experimentation. As an educator, I am always looking for new techniques to offer my students. This growth can be exciting and give me a different view in my own work. Printmaking has given me a whole new layer to my mixed media pieces.

My work begins with original photography. These pictures began a narrative, but my additions to these photos create many different stories. Sometimes subconscious, sometimes purposeful.

I have long been a forager beginning with hikes in my childhood. I am always looking down. I have a vast collection of rusted materials, pods, and other memorabilia. From a stick found on the beach the day my mom passed to a stone from my walk with my grandson, these items tell a story and become a precious part of my story.

This year as I moved my father out of his home to assisted living, I collected drawers he left behind in his studio. These drawers hold many of my new pieces. They also gave many of my collected treasures a home and a way to preserve my story.

I hope you connect to this work and find a story of your own when viewing them.