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Sharon Norwood

Sharon Norwood

Statement


My work invites the viewer to consider our relationships to real world history of "otherness", by reframing familiar narratives and providing an alternate context for contemplation. We are different yet inexplicably connected in our intertwined histories. The work seeks to interrogate those spaces that both fractures and unites our understanding of self and others. In the work the curly line takes on special importance, sometimes it becomes a metaphor for the black body, at other times it lives within that decorative, ornate space that connects us all back to the formal language of drawing and mark making. There is a shift between hair and line, at one moment the work is read as hair, at other times it is simply a beautiful mark.

Bio


Sharon Norwood is a Jamaican born, Canadian artist from Toronto Canada. Her work spans several media to include painting and ceramic. Norwood received a BFA in Painting from the University of South Florida and an MFA in studio Art from Florida State University. Sharon has exhibited in Canada, the United States, Jamaica, Korea and Germany, her exhibition record includes solo exhibitions, group collaborations, and site-specific installations. Norwood has been awarded residences at Erie Arts & Culture, the McColl Center for the creative arts, the Hambidge center, the Virginia Center for the creative arts, the Vermont Studio Center, PILOTENKUECHE in Germany, Watershed Center for the ceramic arts in Maine, and ROKTOWA in Kingston Jamaica. In 2019 Norwood became a Joan Mitchell foundation nominee. Norwood’s work is in private collections in Canada and abroad.

CV


EDUCATION
  • 2018 - MFA, Florida State University
  • 2013 - BFA, University of South Florida
Select Solo Exhibitions
  • 2022 - The Root of The Matter; Washington & Lee University Museums
  • 2018 - Defining Beauty; Tempus Projects; Tampa FL
  • 2015 May - Split Ends; Kirk Ke Wang Gallery: Tampa FL
Select Group Exhibitions
  • 2022 - The Universe Within, The Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL
  • 2021 - Continuing Conversations, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
  • 2021 - “AND I Resume The Struggle”, The Olympia Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
  • 2021 - Entrelacs, La Maison de La Culture Claude Léveillée, Montréal, QC
  • 2021 - Af-Flux Biennale-Transnationale Noire- Art Mûr, Montréal, QC
  • 2021 - 2022 - TEXTURES: THE HISTORY AND ART OF BLACK HAIR, Kent State University Museum, Kent, OH
  • 2021 - A Return To.. Commemorating Juneteenth, Sulfur Studios, Savannah, Ga
  • 2021 - Transformation: Objects and Images in Relation, Clemente, New York, NY
  • 2021 - Hudgens Center 2021 Cup Show Invitational, Duluth GA
  • 2021 - Spaces Between, The McColl Center for Arts and Innovation, Charlotte NC
  • 2021 - Hindsight 2020, Art Museum of The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
  • 2021 - Résurgence, Centre D’Exposition Lethbridge, Saint-Laurent, Montréal, QC
  • 2021 - Roots Run Deep, Brew House Association, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2021 - But Before Bone is Skin, UCF Art Gallery, University of Central Florida, Orlando FL
  • 2020 - EPOCH – Florida Mining Gallery, Jacksonville, Florida
  • 2020 - See Your Neighbor: Diversity in The Arts, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee FL
  • 2020 - We Out Here, Denison Art Space in Newark, Newark, OH
  • 2019-2020 – Archeology of Memory: The site and sound of ceramics, The Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami FL
  • 2019 - A Decade of Tempus Projects, Tempus Projects Gallery, Tampa, Florida
  • 2019 - Reclaiming my Place, Dawson College Gallery, Montreal, QC, Canada
Residences
  • 2022 - BANFF Center For The Creative Arts, Alberta, Canada
  • 2021 - McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Charlotte, NC, USA
  • 2020 - Hambidge Center, Ethel & J.W.Woodruff, Fellowship, Rabun Gap GA USA
  • 2020 - Artist in Residence Invited - Long Road Projects & Erie Arts and Culture, Erie PA
  • 2019 - Virginia Center for The Creative Arts -Jacques and Natasha Gelman Fellowship, Amherst VA
  • 2017 - PILOTENKUECHE, Leipzig, Germany
  • 2015 - Artscape - Luminous Bodies, Toronto Canada
  • 2015 - Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle ME
  • 2012 and 2013 - ROKTOWA, Downtown, Kingston Jamaica W.I.
* Awards/Grants /Nomination
  • 2019 - Joan Mitchell Foundation “Painters & Sculptors Grants Candidate” Nominee
  • 2018 - Drawing Award, Florida State University, Tallahassee FL
  • 2017 - McKinney Law Group Scholarship fund, Tampa FL
  • 2016 - Exceptional Opportunity Award, Florida State University, Tallahassee FL
  • 2016 - Emerging Artist Talent, Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Tampa FL
  • 2015 - Travel Grant, Florida State University, Congress of Graduate Students, Tallahassee, FL
Teaching/Workshop/ Presentations
  • 2021- NSCAD Université – Artist Presentation Ceramics I, Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 2021 - Black Portraitures- Studio Visits, online presentation, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • 2021 - SAIC – Professional Practice Artist Presentation (PROFPRAC 3900-006), Chicago, IL
  • 2021- NIA Center Gardiner Museum, Knowing Histories, Building Futures Artist Presentation, Toronto,ON
  • 2021 - SCAD -Artist Lecture, Graduating BFA, Professional practice presentation, Savannah GA
  • 2020 - SCAD- ARTH481 - Gender and the Body, Class Artist lecture, Savannah GA
  • 2020 - The Crown We Wear: Black Hair as Art in Life, A discussion between Dr. Rhonda Matthews, Danielle Slade and Sharon Norwood, Edinboro University Bruce Gallery, Erie PA
  • 2020 - Florida State University – ARH5806 Grad Seminar, Sex & the City – Artist lecture
  • 2020 - University of Memphis, Ceramics II, Artist presentation
  • 2020 - SCAD - Fibers – Invited Artist Presentation, Savannah GA
  • 2016 - Gwangju Biennial, Online Periscope Presentation, "Curating The International Diaspora: Is the Curator an Agent or Double Agent of Cultural Identity?", Dong-gu, Gwangju, Korea Artist Presentation
  • 2015 - The Cultural Symbolism of Art, Lunch Time Lecture Series, The Museum of Fine Arts, St Pete FL,
  • 2013 - KOTE (Kingston On The Edge), Kingston Jamaica, Hand building ceramic workshop, Jamaica
  • 2013 - ROKTOWA, Kingston Jamaica, hand building workshop, Kingston Jamaica
  • 2012 - Walkerswood Summer School, St Ann Jamaica, Hand building ceramic workshop, Jamaica WI

Download CV