Sharon Harvey
Sharon Harvey is a painter & gallerist living and working in Gloucestershire, England. Her paintings are inspired by memory and the concept of a contemporary landscape genre.
In a childhood full of shadows, her memories are fleeting; glimpses and fragments, all dominated by intense shards of colour. These memories are like ideas or visual poems that disintegrate before she can grasp them.
They are where her paintings are located and provide the conceptual framework for her practice, exploring landscape and what it means in contemporary painting today.
When starting to paint, Sharon builds layers, starting with acrylics and then often moving on to oils for their rich depth and purity of colour.
The works, whilst seemingly devoid of figuration, reference a visual poem: attempting to capture through the sensory medium of paint the mood of either the place or a moment in time.
Drawing and sketching on location is essential to her practice. In the studio, not using visual reference material is essential when painting, to allow her own emotion and memory to dictate the placing of colour and shape whilst providing space for the viewer to form their response.
Attempting to grasp the feeling before it disintegrates, the painting becomes a metaphor for the lived experience.
Sharon studied at Winchester School of Art, graduating with a First-Class Honours degree in Fine Art.
Sharon has attended residencies with both Briso and Veor, and has been shortlisted for The National Graduate Prize, The Royal Art Prize at London’s Mall Galleries, the Bath Open at Victoria Public Art Gallery, and the Mottisfont Open with The National Trust. Sharon is also a graduate of the yearlong mentoring program with Newlyn School of Art.
In addition to her commercial painting practice, Sharon has taught both adults at the University of Southampton and secondary school pupils in life drawing and contemporary art history.
Sharon has been an associate member of CAS, focusing on experimental and community projects and has also collaborated and acted as a visual recorder through drawing on a community mental health project in the Forest of Dean.
Sharon opened her own contemporary art gallery in Newnham-on-Severn in December 2022 which shows curated exhibitions yearly, featuring painting, ceramics , jewellery and textiles from both emerging and mid career artists.